New research shows that consumers struggle to distinguish between genuine environmental claims made in ads and "greenwashed" ones that mislead on how environmentally friendly a product or business is.
The research from the ESRI and Trinity College Dublin also shows that consumers were less willing to purchase from brands they suspected of greenwashing, even if the environmental claim made by the brand was genuine.
Those who learned about greenwashing tactics reported being more willing to engage in climate action, including using climate policies to inform their voting behaviour.
The study was motivated by an analysis by the European Commission showing that over half of environmental claims made on advertisements are vague, misleading or unfounded.
The Environmental Protection Agency-funded study used a controlled experiment to test the benefit of educating consumers about common greenwashing tactics.
The research used a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults, who examined a series of ads that featured genuine or greenwashed environmental claims.
Half the participants, selected at random, first learned about greenwashing tactics and completed a quiz to test their ability to spot it.
The results showed that those who were trained to spot greenwashing were more confident in their ability to do so.
The ESRI said these people were also more suspicious of some greenwashed claims than the untrained control group, but the training also led to greater suspicion of genuine claims.
The experiment also revealed that consumers were less willing to purchase from brands they suspected of greenwashing, even if the environmental claim made by the brand was genuine.
Those who learned about greenwashing tactics reported being more willing to engage in climate action, including using climate policies to inform their voting behaviour.
"Greenwashing makes it difficult for genuinely sustainable businesses to compete against ones that mislead consumers about their environmental performance," said Dr Shane Timmons of the ESRI's Behavioural Research Unit.
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"Educating consumers about greenwashing doesn’t appear to help, as they simply become more sceptical of all environmental claims. Instead, our results support recent EU Directives that ban many forms of greenwashing, but these directives still need to be transposed into Irish law," he added.
Dr Eimear Cotter, Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment, said that greenwashing undermines efforts to support consumers to make environmentally-friendly choices and, as this research shows, can lead to confusion and scepticism of genuine environmental claims among consumers.
"This research provides valuable insights to help inform the design of effective policy to tackle greenwashing," Dr Cotter added.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Dr Shane Timmons said the study was based on a thesis project from a student in Trinity College Dublin that showed positive results and was subsequently scaled up.
However, the study found that even when people are informed of greenwashing terms in advertisements it simply makes them sceptical of all environmental claims.
