Do you know the term “greenhushing” as the opposite of “greenwashing”?

Greenhushing is a new kind of phenomenon in business. The term refers to a company's refusal to publicise information about sustainable business practices out of the fear that it could be accused of greenwashing. Such voluntary withholding of information about activities that help the environment and the society as a whole, however, can cause a company to lose its position in a fiercely competitive market. How to approach this issue then?

People can be very critical. A good many companies have experienced accusations of exaggerating their ecological efforts and greenwashing. Disproving or explaining wildly circulating unsubstantiated claims is not only difficult but often counterproductive.

That is why some businesses prefer not to communicate their sustainable business activities as a precaution. This defence mechanism is called greenhushing. It is a kind of survival strategy for businesses and organisations wishing to avoid unwanted public attention and scrutiny.

This relatively new term was coined by the consulting firm Treehugger, which often encountered such an attitude among its clients. The reasons were many. The main reasons were fear of not doing enough for the environment for it to be worth communicating, or fear of being misunderstood by the public.

Another reason for greenhushing is the fact that some customer segments or investors may perceive "green" activities as too costly and the products as unnecessarily expensive. Among customers and investors there is often a perception that the cost of sustainability measures "eats up" part of the profit or increases the price of products.

And, last but not least, the reason can be the sheer unwillingness to share any efforts in this area with the public because the company lacks ambition or simply does not do enough. A company with few or no activities with a focus on sustainability, or aware that its activities harm the environment, will often prefer to remain silent.

In 2025, a new European directive is to be implemented which introduces the so-called non-financial reporting, whereby companies will be obliged to measure and report their environmental impact using a specific reporting structure. Ideally, these reports will be audited by independent organisations. This should hopefully put an end to both greenwashing and greenhushing, even though for now it will only apply to large organisations.

Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter to receive more tips and insights from different areas of business.