Companies tread a fine line between greenwashing and real positive change.

Articles — By forcechange on March 10, 2008 2:30 am

Virgin Atlantic, Sir Richard Branson’s popular airline company, has been accused by critics lately of having engaged in greenwashing (merely promoting green policies in order to improve the company’s image) . Branson, over the past few years, has been a vocal proponent of many green policies. However, an analysis by The Times of London found that most of the green policies adopted by Virgin are having little, if no, positive effect on the environment.

The question is then raised: are Branson and Virgin Atlantic engaging in greenwashing or are they attempting to make meaningful change, that even if unintentionally ineffective, still has the effect of promoting dialogue and future action?

We tend to believe that the term greenwashing is thrown around a little too easily. Yes, there is little doubt that many companies have been covering themselves in a green cloak lately, but that does not mean that every business that promotes green policies is a greenwasher. As we’ve seen with many green policies, it often isn’t clear whether a proposed solution will actually work until it has been tried and tested. This very well may be the case with Virgin’s attempts at greening its business.

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