Greenwashing is the practice of using environmental language, imagery, or implied certifications to make a product or company appear more sustainable than it is. It ranges from technically true but irrelevant claims ("CFC-free" on products where CFCs were banned decades ago) to outright fabrication of certification marks.
The UK's CMA, US FTC, and EU regulators have all begun cracking down on vague green claims, but enforcement is limited. The most reliable defense is to ignore packaging marketing and look for third-party certifications you can verify independently.
Common patterns include: hidden trade-offs, no proof, vagueness, fake labels, irrelevance, lesser-of-two-evils framing, and outright fibbing.