Organizations increasingly adopt sustainable practices to reduce their ecological footprint as the urgency to address climate change and environmental degradation heightens. While this shift is a positive development, a less-discussed phenomenon known as “green hushing” has emerged, casting a shadow on the sustainability movement.
Green hushing is deliberately downplaying or remaining silent about environmental achievements or initiatives. This behaviour often arises from the fear of being accused of greenwashing, a deceptive marketing practice in which organizations exaggerate their eco-friendly efforts to improve their public image.
Impacts of Green Hushing
Some of the impacts of Green Hushing are as follows:
- Hindered Progress: Green hushing prevents organizations from sharing valuable information about effective environmental practices, which could slow the adoption of sustainable solutions across industries.
- Suppressed Collaboration: By not publicizing their green achievements, organizations may miss opportunities to identify potential partners, pool resources, and collaborate on joint projects to amplify their collective environmental impact.
- Reduced Public Awareness: Green hushing contributes to a lack of public awareness about sustainability issues and solutions, limiting the potential for grassroots action and societal change.
Implications of Green Hushing
According to a report published by South Pole, some companies, including those from the tech, finance, and engineering sectors, prefer not to disclose and draw attention to their achievements or milestones on climate action.
It found that nearly one in four of the 1,200 large private companies from 12 countries surveyed have set net-zero targets but have decided not to publicise their progress. Some of the implications of Green Hushing are as follows:
- Loss of Trust: When organizations withhold information about their environmental efforts, they risk damaging trust among consumers, investors, and other stakeholders. Transparency is essential to building credibility and promoting long-term engagement in sustainability initiatives.
- Stifled Innovation: Green hushing can inhibit the spread of innovative technologies and practices by discouraging organizations from showcasing their environmental achievements. This stifling of innovation can slow the global transition to a more sustainable economy.
Green Hushing and its Relevance in Today’s World
Green hushing has gained significant relevance in the era of heightened environmental awareness and the fight against greenwashing. It highlights the delicate balance organizations must strike between showcasing their eco-friendly initiatives and avoiding accusations of greenwashing. Additionally, it underscores the importance of transparent, accurate, and consistent communication about environmental efforts. Some of the real-life examples are:
a. Interface, a leading carpet tile manufacturer, has been at the forefront of sustainability for decades, with ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions, water usage, and waste. However, the company has often been cautious about publicizing its successes for fear of being accused of greenwashing. This reluctance has potentially prevented other businesses from learning from Interface’s innovative practices and adopting similar measures.
b. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reported in 2015 that over half of the surveyed companies did not publicly disclose their carbon reduction targets, even though they had established them internally. This lack of transparency is an example of green hushing in action, as these organizations opted to keep their environmental goals hidden from the public eye.
Addressing Green Hushing
To address the concept of Green Hushing, some of the important steps that an organization can take are:
- To mitigate the adverse effects of green hushing, organizations can adopt the following strategies:
- Emphasize transparency and authenticity by openly communicating environmental initiatives, progress, and challenges.
- Adopt clear guidelines and standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting standards, to ensure accurate and consistent communication of environmental performance.
- Foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge-sharing, enabling organizations to work together to address environmental challenges and share best practices.
Green hushing poses a unique challenge in the global effort to combat climate change and environmental degradation. Organizations can take proactive steps to promote transparency, collaboration, and shared learning by understanding its concept, impacts, and implications. By embracing open communication about environmental achievements and fostering a culture of trust and cooperation, we can overcome the barriers created by green hushing and advance towards a more sustainable.