Two Sides says it has actively confronted misleading environmental claims, challenging over 2,650 organisations globally, with more than 1,180 companies, including many in Australia and New Zealand, removing or amending misleading anti-paper statements.
Economic pressures continue to drive many cases of greenwashing with numerous organisations that have previously relied on paper for customer communication shifting their customers from traditional paper-based services to digital platforms to cut costs. Thy often accompany the transition with misleading and unsubstantiated environmental marketing claims like ‘Go Green – Go Paperless’ or ‘Choose e-billing and help save a tree’.
Two Sides says the shift to digital frequently overlooks consumer choice, as shown by the ACCC’s 2023 report, where 57 per cent of Australian businesses examined had concerns over unclear or unsupported environmental claims. Consumer feedback also underscores this, with many Australians still preferring paper-based options. Two Sides highlights that, unlike many digital alternatives, Australian paper maintains a strong recycling rate of 87%, with forest coverage growing by over 300,000 hectares in the past five years.
As corporate sustainability gains attention, other sectors like tissue and paper-based packaging also face greenwashing, with products misleadingly marketed as more sustainable. Two Sides says these claims often cite various environmental reasons, such as the use of new or alternative fibre sources, however, are frequently unsubstantiated.
Kellie Northwood, Two Sides administrator, says, “Misleading environmental claims are harming an industry that supports over 229,000 Australian jobs, especially in paper and printing sectors. These greenwashing claims not only ignore paper’s recyclability and sustainable tree farms but also risk eroding public trust in an essential industry.
“A healthy market for paper products promotes sustainable forestry, a renewable resource and a reforestation industry. Many companies we engage with are surprised to learn that Australia’s working forests cover two million hectares, continuously growing and supporting biodiversity.”
Two Sides estimates that the widespread influence of some of these organisations means unsubstantiated claims have a lasting negative impact on consumer perceptions of paper. The financial impact of greenwashing is also of global concern if these messages continue without challenge. The anti-greenwash campaign continues to be a priority for Two Sides and continues to urge companies not to use unsubstantiated and misleading environmental claims about going paperless in all of their communications.
“With our anti-greenwashing campaign having a 73 per cent success rate in the region, we are proud that many organisations have amended their misleading messages. We work hard to ensure that any misleading claims that ‘going paperless is greener’ are corrected to reflect paper’s recyclability and renewable nature.”
