Dictionary

greenwash en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɹiːnwɒʃ/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Blend of green (“environmentally friendly”) + whitewash (or green + -wash), coined by Jay Westerveld in 1986.

Meanings

1. A false or misleading picture of environmental friendliness used to conceal or obscure damaging activities.
   • People can be cynical about companies hiding behind green ideals, their radars finely tuned to detect a greenwash. 2010, Meegan Jones, Sustainable Event Management: A Practical Guide, →ISBN, page 38:
   • Greta Thunberg has blasted politicians as hypocrites and international climate summits as empty words and greenwash. 2020 November 9, Damian Carrington, “‘Hypocrites and greenwash’: Greta Thunberg blasts leaders over climate crisis”, in the Guardian, retrieved 09 Nov 2020:

Forms

Coordinates

whitewash · bluewash · pinkwash

Synonyms

greenwashing

Translations (10)

es lavado verde de imagen (misleading picture of environmental friendliness) · fr écoblanchiment (misleading picture of environmental friendliness) · ko 그린워싱 (misleading picture of environmental friendliness) · es greenwashing (misleading picture of environmental friendliness) · sv grönmålning (misleading picture of environmental friendliness) · da grønvaskning (misleading picture of environmental friendliness) · fi viherpesu (misleading picture of environmental friendliness) · ja グリーンウォッシング (misleading picture of environmental friendliness) · es lavado verde (misleading picture of environmental friendliness) · cmn 漂綠 /漂绿 (misleading picture of environmental friendliness)

greenwash en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɹiːnwɒʃ/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Blend of green (“environmentally friendly”) + whitewash (or green + -wash), coined by Jay Westerveld in 1986.

Meanings

1. (intransitive, transitive) To portray with a false or misleading image of environmental friendliness so as to conceal or obscure damaging activities.
   • WWF recommends including the following Clauses in the Bill to avoid potential loopholes: […] Provide clear and comprehensive definitions of “disposable” and “single-use” to avoid greenwashing and false claims for products designed to be disposable but falsely marketed otherwise to circumvent the ban. 2023, WWF—Hong Kong, “Submission on Product Eco-responsibility (Amendment) Bill 2023 (LC Paper No. CB(1)398/2023(09))”, in Documents of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, page 2:
   • But what happens more often is that media “greenwashes” dirty energy sources (coal, gas, nuclear power) as “clean”—a particularly dangerous notion because it belies the threat they pose to our planet and human health. 2011, Elaine Wellin, Kristen Seraphin, Project Censored, Censored 2012: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2010-11, →ISBN, Health and the Environment:
   • The commercials were very effective – in 1990, they won an Effie advertising award, and subsequently became a case study at Harvard Business school. They also became notorious among environmentalists, who have proclaimed them the gold standard of greenwashing – the corporate practice of making diverting sustainability claims to cover a questionable environmental record. 2016 August 20, Bruce Watson, “The troubling evolution of corporate greenwashing”, in The Guardian:

Forms

Coordinates

bluewash · humanewash · brownwash · whitewash · redwash

Deriveds

greenwasher · openwash

Relateds

green tape

Translations (5)

da grønvaske (to disseminate such information) · sv grönmåla (to disseminate such information) · cmn 漂綠 /漂绿 (to disseminate such information) · hu zöldnek tüntet fel / álcáz (to disseminate such information) · fi viherpestä (to disseminate such information)