How do you clearly and effectively communicate about your sustainability performance without risking accusations of greenwashing, greenhushing, or greenwishing? We've developed a checklist for you that aligns with the Dutch Authority Consumer& Market's Sustainability Communication Guidelines.
Download the interactive checklist at the bottom of the page.
Context: Legislation to protect consumers
More and more (inter)national guidelines and regulations have been established, requiring organisations to comply in their sustainability communications, to protect consumers from greenwashing and deception.
In the Netherlands, we have:
- The code for sustainability advertising by the Advertising Code Foundation. A code aimed at ensuring companies advertise sustainability responsibly.
- Guidelines on Sustainability Claims by the Authority for Consumers & Markets. A guideline that enables organisations to formulate clear, correct, and relevant sustainability claims.
You will read more about this in the checklist.
Content; what to communicate?
For a B2B audience, it's interesting to communicate about the consequences of your sustainable choices/progress for your customers. How does a 20% reduction in climate impact on your side, for example, affect the supply chain of your customers?
If you are a B2C organisation, you can distinguish yourself and convince consumers to choose your brand because you are actively taking steps towards more sustainability. An extensive investigation into your environmental impact is the perfect substantiation to communicate transparently about your environmental impact.
Read more about what to communicate in our article: How to communicate about your sustainable achievements & progress
Download the checklist and get started
Please note: we have based our checklist on the statements of the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets, but ultimately their guideline is leading. The responsibility for the correct interpretation of this guideline lies with you. We therefore advise you to also consult this guideline, for completeness, nuances, examples, exceptions and sector-specific laws and regulations.
When you are based in another country, make sure you are up-to-date with guidelines/regulations specifically for your market.
