Two Sides’ Anti-Greenwash Campaign Compels 335 Corporations to Ditch “Go Green” Claims

By Joseph Myers

We have long rebelled against the notion that “Print is dead,” as, well, we are all proponents of paper. Priding itself on “promoting the unique sustainable and attractive attributes of print, paper and paper packaging,” Two Sides likewise tabs itself a defender of the resource, so it had to have reveled Nov. 13, when, as a result of its anti-greenwash campaign, the not-for-profit, global initiative announced that 335 organizations have now removed or altered their “Go Green” paper-centric messaging.

Those corporations account for a little more than 36 percent of the 921 businesses that Two Sides has investigated for possibly unsubstantiated environmental claims since its 2008 inception, with the newest tally coming via a Nov. 5 London-based meeting of its Country Managers. Representatives obviously recognize “the benefits of digital communication in today’s ever-online world,” but they decry the supposition nurtured by some of the world’s largest companies that “paper is bad for the environment.”

335 Leading Corporations Remove Misleading ‘Go Green’ Claims

Two Sides reports Global Anti-Greenwash Success

Read our latest press release here:https://t.co/jR9ikxcbTY

— Two Sides (@TwoSidesUK) November 13, 2018

In relaying that anti-paper line of reasoning to their customers, those corporations are encouraging said base to switch to electronic bills, statements and correspondence. While some clients certainly welcome that streamlined way of conducting business, Two Sides warned against “a blanket policy on all consumers” that neglects to acknowledge their preferences for paper.

Print+Promo has analyzed the work of Two Sides as a tireless rebuke against greenwashing, with a 2016 examination of the group’s work touching on 65 North American companies who had modified their businesses approaches after having misleadingly touted paperless means as superior ones. With the results of the Country Managers’ gathering, Two Sides can now work to address the gripes that it has with hundreds of other companies whom it has found relying on swipes at paper’s environmental effect on various industries’ value chain.

To support those efforts, the United Kingdom-headquartered advocacy initiative can call on the results of a 10,000-plus commissioned consumer survey that, among other things, showed that 89 percent of the respondents believe they have the right to choose how they receive communications—printed or electronically—from financial organizations and service providers and that 62 percent feel that senders are looking to save money when proclaiming it is “better for the environment” to switch to digital.

“Two Sides asks all service providers to take a fair and honest approach to their communications and ensure that consumers remain free to choose paper, without charge or difficulty,” the Country Managers offered in a joint statement.

For more information, visit www.twosides.info/antigreenwash/.