Cleo insight
The truth about greenwashing: 10 damaging don’ts and the one crucial do
Greenwashing destroys trust faster than any single campaign can build it. In a world where consumers are more informed and more sceptical than ever, brands that overstate their environmental credentials are playing a dangerous game.
The damage is not just reputational. It undermines genuine sustainability efforts across entire industries and makes people less likely to believe the organisations doing the work properly.
At Cleo, we believe in earned purpose, not claimed purpose. That means every impact claim should be measurable, verifiable, and real.
The crucial rule is simple: make your impact transparent, trackable, and honest. If the proof is not there, the claim should not be there either.