Consumers call out wishy-washy sustainability initiatives

Millions of social media conversations uncovered that Aussies are becoming ‘hyper-aware’ of greenwashing. Greenwashing is when a company claims to be environmentally conscious but actually is not making any notable sustainability efforts.

It should come as no surprise that Australians are on Twitter talking about sustainability more than ever before, with climate being the biggest sustainability issue.

Twitter Australia’s analysis of more than six million Tweets revealed four big findings to offer guidance for companies navigating sustainability on social media.

In the last two years, there have been over 6.2 million Tweets around sustainability, a more than 33% year-on-year increase. Based on these Tweets, climate is the biggest sustainability concern for Australians, making up half of the sustainability conversations.

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Aussies are looking to companies and governments alike to play a bigger and strategic role in making sustainability a key priority. Twitter users are moving their focus from individual action towards big structural topics. Previously, issues around packaging, recycling and sustainable fashion attracted much ire. However, there are more conversations around energy and transport (up 18%), and industry, innovation and infrastructure (up 22%).

In the last two years, the number of tweets around greenwashing have more than tripled.

“Consumers are tired of brands that claim to be environmentally conscious but in reality are not making any notable sustainability efforts,” according to Twitter. What’s more, users are not shy about calling companies out for their wishy-washy sustainability initiatives.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) are cracking down on dodgy sustainability claims, announcing that they would be analysing hundreds of company websites to check whether consumers are being deceived.

“These [Twitter] results indicate the vast majority of Australians are passionate about adopting sustainable practices. However, the results suggest that achieving sustained behavioural change can be a challenge. Some barriers to this change included the size of the crisis, associated premium and cost involved by the consumer and either too much or too little information when navigating decision making. This can create a disconnect resulting in less action by the consumer,” said Hannah Rook, Intelligence and Insights Director at Magna.

“Brands can play a critical role in creating the momentum that Australians are desperately seeking. Ultimately, businesses and governments need to work towards closing the gap,” she added.

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