The print and paper advocacy group said economic pressures have continued to drive many cases of greenwashing, with numerous organisations that have previously relied on paper for customer communications shifting their customers from traditional paper-based services to digital platforms to cut costs.
This transition is often accompanied by misleading and unsubstantiated environmental marketing claims like ‘Go Green – Go Paperless’ or ‘Choose e-billing and help save a tree’, which Two Sides said are examples of greenwashing.
Since Two Sides’ inception, more than 1,260 organisations have removed or changed misleading anti-paper statements.
Two Sides said consumer preferences are being ignored in the push to digital communications. Data from the 2023 Two Sides ‘Trend Tracker’ report found that 55% of European consumers believe that companies’ environmental arguments for switching to digital are misleading and are primarily about reducing company costs.
The study also found that 76% of consumers want the option to choose and do not want to be forced over to digital communications.
As corporate sustainability gains more attention, other sectors like tissue and paper-based packaging are also facing greenwashing, with products being misleadingly marketed as more sustainable. These claims often cite various environmental reasons, such as the use of new or alternative fibre sources, but are frequently unsubstantiated.
Two Sides Europe managing director Jonathan Tame said: “These greenwash claims not only breach established environmental marketing regulations but also harm an industry with a well-established and continually improving environmental track record.
“Far from ‘saving trees’, a healthy market for forest products, such as paper, encourages the long-term growth of forests through sustainable forest management.
“Many of the organisations we challenge are surprised to learn that European forests have actually been expanding by the equivalent of 1,500 football pitches every day.”
In Europe alone, 811 of the companies Two Sides has challenged, including South West Water, New Look, BMW Financial Services, and Deutsche Bank, have removed or changed these statements.
“It remains vital that these misleading messages are challenged to ensure that the industry’s great environmental record is acknowledged and to protect the livelihoods of thousands of people who work in the forest, paper, packaging and print sectors from the impact of opportunistic and deceptive greenwash marketing,” Tame added.
Two Sides has estimated that the widespread influence of some of these organisations means unsubstantiated claims have a lasting negative impact on consumer perceptions of paper, posing a threat to a sector that supports over 640,000 jobs across more than 112,000 European businesses.
The organisation said the financial impact of greenwashing is also of global concern if these messages continue without challenge.
Research conducted by Two Sides and Censuswide in 2021 found that in the European mailing and postal sector alone, greenwashing threatens the loss of €337m (£284m) of value annually to the industry.
The anti-greenwash campaign is still a top priority for Two Sides, which continues to urge companies not to use unsubstantiated and misleading environmental claims about going paperless in all of their communications.
“We are grateful for the cooperation of the hundreds of organisations that have changed or eliminated greenwashing claims from their messaging, and we are also thankful for the many industry stakeholders and members of the public who send Two Sides examples of greenwash,” Tame added.
Two Sides has asked for any instances of greenwash found to be sent to greenwash@twosides.info.
Two Sides will hold its 2024 Power of Print seminar, which it has organised with the BPIF, and in partnership with Canon, Fedrigoni and Printweek, on Tuesday (5 November) at Stationers’ Hall in London.
