Green marketing is a powerful tool for businesses looking to communicate their sustainability efforts, yet it comes with significant risks. Without accurate data and proper oversight, marketing messages can veer into greenwashing. To avoid this, it’s highly recommended that marketing and sustainability teams work together to create messages that engage and tell the truth about a company’s operations with data-backed evidence. While the sustainability manager’s primary role is to ensure consistent environmental performance and compliance, their insights and expertise on sustainability can help ensure external communications from an organisation adequately reflect reality.
What is Ethical Green Marketing?
Green marketing has seen rapid growth as more consumers look for ‘eco-friendly’ products and governments mandate increasing sustainability regulations and requirements. This has also led to incidences of greenwashing, a practice where companies promote their products or services as environmentally friendly when their environmental impact is not significantly reduced and may not have been measured. Greenwashing fundamentally damages credible environmental efforts through consumer deception and false sustainability assertions. Companies typically resort to greenwashing when their environmental messaging lacks substantial investment or operational adjustments to support these claims.
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As a result, marketing teams that centre their strategy on ethical green marketing are better equipped to avoid greenwashing. Ethical green marketing refers to the responsible and honest communication of a company’s sustainability initiatives, products or services. It prioritises truth, transparency and tangible action over superficial claims. Rather than using vague buzzwords like "eco-friendly" or "natural," ethical green marketing relies on verifiable data, lifecycle analysis, and independent certification to back up environmental claims.
Core principles of ethical green marketing include:
- Transparency: Clear communication about what sustainability efforts entail and their limitations.
- Accuracy: Avoidance of misleading, exaggerated or unverifiable claims.
- Verification: Ensuring that any claims made can be backed by verified data using an external consultancy
- Consistency: Alignment across marketing channels and with actual operations.
- Compliance: Adherence to government and industry regulations, such as the UK’s Competition Markets Authority (CMA) Green Claims Code.
The Role of Sustainability Managers in Ethical Communication
Sustainability managers play a crucial role in ensuring marketing communications related to environmental attributes are accurate and substantiated by credible evidence. They must navigate complex regulations whilst translating technical sustainability data into digestible claims that avoid greenwashing accusations.
Cross-functional collaboration between ESG and marketing teams
ESG and marketing teams need to work together for ethical green marketing. This partnership turns complex information into consumer-friendly messages while staying accurate and authentic. It also helps marketing teams avoid superficial language that might trigger greenwashing concerns. The UK's Green Claims Code and similar regulations provide the foundations for ethical marketing practices. Companies need thorough evidence gathering, lifecycle considerations, and honest communication about achievements and challenges to comply.
Key Ways Sustainability Managers can Support Ethical Green Marketing
Provide Verifiable Environmental Data
Green marketing begins with accurate data. Sustainability managers oversee the gathering of environmental performance metrics, including energy use, water consumption, carbon emissions, waste production and materials sourcing across a product's entire lifecycle. This data acts as the foundation of any credible green marketing campaign.
For example: If a company claims a building material reduces carbon emissions by 40%, the sustainability manager can supply the lifecycle assessment (LCA) and carbon accounting methodology that validates the claim. This reduces legal risk and ensures alignment with regulations like PAS 2080 for construction and ISO 14068 (carbon neutrality).
Translate Technical Findings into Accessible Language
Sustainability managers often work with technical data, which can be complex and difficult for a general audience to digest. Their collaboration with marketing teams helps bridge this gap.
Support may include:
- Explaining the environmental impact of key product features.
- Helping develop infographics and reports for stakeholder engagement.
- Providing context for green claims in comparison to industry averages.
This empowers marketers to tell compelling, trustworthy sustainability stories that resonate with customers, investors and regulators alike. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) specifically requires "robust, credible and up to date evidence" for any environmental claims in their Green Claims Code guide. Additionally, marketers' claims must be substantiated through "tests, analyses, research, or studies that have been conducted and evaluated in an objective manner by qualified persons".
Read More: Storytelling in Green Marketing | Tunley Environmental
Review and Approve Marketing Content
Ethical green marketing requires rigorous internal controls. Sustainability managers can act as internal gatekeepers, reviewing promotional materials before publication.
A structured review process should include:
- Verifying the presence of supporting evidence for all claims.
- Ensuring clarity and avoidance of vague language.
- Identifying potential reputational risks.
A cross-departmental approval process not only avoids greenwashing but also helps marketing stay aligned with the company's sustainability strategy.
Educate Marketing Teams About Environmental Risks and Opportunities
Sustainability managers are ideally placed to train marketing teams in the fundamentals of sustainability, industry trends and regulatory expectations.
Training might include:
- Introduction to relevant environmental certifications (e.g., SBTi for Net Zero targets, EcoVadis, BSI ISO Standards such as ISO 14064 or ISO 14068).
- Workshops on greenwashing and risk mitigation based on the CMA Green Claims Code.
- Sharing examples of best practice and marketing success stories.
This creates a more informed team that can confidently communicate green initiatives. Such trainings can be organised internally and led by the sustainability team. However, in the case of a larger company or in cases where customised sustainability training is required, it can be outsourced to expert sustainability scientists who are well-versed in that field.
Embed Sustainability in Long-Term Marketing Strategy
Rather than being treated as an add-on, sustainability should be embedded into the marketing strategy from the outset. This means identifying strategic goals, setting KPIs and aligning campaigns with genuine progress.
Strategic collaboration can include:
- Defining sustainability goals and how they translate to campaigns.
- Co-authoring annual sustainability reports and whitepapers.
- Joint participation in industry events and webinars.
The result is a unified voice that reflects the company’s values, attracts environmentally conscious customers and builds brand loyalty. This will also help ensure a quick adaptation is possible in the event of regulatory updates or changes.
The Bottom Line
Marketing success, especially campaigns focused on sustainable products and services, relies heavily on teamwork between sustainability and marketing departments. Ethical green marketing is only possible when sustainability managers and marketing teams collaborate from day one, ensuring that all communications are accurate, verifiable and value-driven. Sustainability managers bring the rigour, insight and data necessary to guide ethical green marketing strategies for campaigns that are future-proof, legally compliant and commercially successful.