2019 was the busiest year to date for Two Sides’ Anti-greenwash campaign. Globally, 388 organisations were found to be using unsubstantiated claims about print and paper’s impact on the environment. These organisations were identified by Two Sides throughout Europe, North and South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Two Sides is a not for profit, global initiative promoting the unique sustainable and attractive attributes of print, paper and paper packaging.

Since 2010, the Two Sides campaign has changed or removed misleading environmental claims of over 500 organisations, including many of the world’s largest corporations.

Two Sides reports that 131 of those organisations engaged in 2019 have removed or changed their messaging. This brings the total number of companies to over 500 since the campaign began in 2010.

During 2019 in the UK, Two Sides worked with 30 organisations to remove or amend their messages about the impact of paper. These organisations include; Aviva, Adobe, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest and over a dozen local councils.

In ongoing efforts to cut costs, many banks, telecom providers, utility companies and even governmental organisations are encouraging their customers to switch to digital services by using unfounded environmental claims such as “Go Green – Go Paperless” and “Choose e-billing and help save a tree”.

Jonathan Tame, of the Two Sides global team, says, “Not only are these claims in breach of advertising rules, but they are hugely damaging to an industry which has a solid and continually improving environmental 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 engage are always surprised to learn than European forests have actually been growing by 1,500 football pitches every day.”

Jonathan Tame concludes, “Tackling greenwash is an ongoing challenge that requires significant resource to research, monitor and engage so many organisations. Because of the huge reach of some of these organisations, these unsubstantiated claims about paper have a damaging effect on consumer perceptions of paper. For this reason, the Anti-greenwash campaign will continue to be a priority of Two Sides.

“We are grateful for the cooperation of the hundreds of organisations we have worked with in recent years. We are also thankful for the many industry stakeholders and members of the public who send Two Sides examples of greenwash.”

Two Sides continues to actively challenge major organisations found to be misleading consumers by using environmental claims about the use of paper. Please send any instances of greenwash to greenwash@twosides.info.