COP26: The Greenwash Conspiracy

As climate change becomes a bigger issue, more companies are trying to prove they’re eco-friendly, but are they actually as green as they claim? Alice Bell, climate campaigner and author of Our Biggest Experiment: A History of the Climate Crisis, tells Yasmeen Serhan about the shady practice of greenwashing, where firms mislead consumers about their climate credentials. Which companies are the worst offenders? And what can we do about it?

• “Greenwashing has become a developed art… it’s all designed to make the consumer feel good.”
• “One person’s greenwash will be someone else’s acceptable strategy.”
• “The oil industry has to invest in PR because their reason to exist is in question.”
• “The phrase ‘Net-Zero’ has offered huge opportunities to greenwashers.”
• “Britain talks about how we’ve stopped using coal, but we import goods made using coal.”

Presented by Yasmeen Serhan. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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