Tuesday, 28 May 2019

‘Time’s up for a golden age of corporate greenwashing’

... runs a headline in the Financial Times of all places. It’s a warning to companies such as Aggregate Industries and parent LafargeHolcim, masters of greenwash, experts in speaking fine words about climate change, but in reality doing very little about it.


We’ve posted enough times on this blog about AI’s abysmal record on reducing its CO2 emissions, in direct contrast to the nonsense it publicly spouts. We’ve posted that If AI’s record is an example of corporate action on climate change, we’re all screwed and how AI now emits nearly 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 each year – more than 3x the amount it did in 2006, and 5x the amount it did in 1999, but tells the world:


We’ve also posted about LafargeHolcim: how LafargeHolcim has a way with numbers – CO2 emission numbers; how it claims to be "at the forefront of efforts to mitigate climate change", and yet total net CO2 emissions have continued to increase in 2018, as they did in 2017 and 2016, but nevertheless tells people:


As the FT article says:
Too many still profess to care about the climate, especially those in industries struggling to impress concerned investors and consumers, or hire bright young recruits, yet fail to match the scale of their rhetoric with action.
Aggregate Industries and LafargeHolcim would certainly be on that list. But "Time’s up for a golden age of corporate greenwashing", says the article, pointing to the unusual but notable statement by one CEO, who says people should avoid buying his company’s products. Virgin Group's Josh Bayliss warns:
It’s definitely true that right now every one of us should think hard about whether or not we need to take a flight.
In a warning to polluters like AI – the author of the FT article reckons the climate debate is shifting:
I am willing to bet that companies failing to match their green claims with solid action face far greater risks than they ever have before.
Business Green – where the Josh Bayliss story first appeared – says the "pressure on brands to prove their environmental credentials has ratcheted up several notches since the start of the year":
There has scarcely been a more a precarious time to operate a globally recognisable brand. Consumer awareness of ethical and environmental issues is higher than ever, bringing with it far loftier expectations for the products and services people spend their money on.
About time.

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