Virginijus Sinkevicius

No other word is used more often today than “sustainability” when talk turns to important environmental matters such as reducing GHG emissions. …Yet, sustainability is part of the distortion that often occurs when commercial and corporate interests attempt to explain their efforts to meet so-called green standards. This distortion is called “greenwashing,” and it’s everywhere. …Canada lags in terms of controlling greenwashing. Some of the problem can be traced to the lack of specificity of commonly-used green terms. For example, Natural Resources Canada offers guidance as follows: “A net-zero energy home is so energy efficient, it only uses as much energy as it can produce from onsite renewable energy.” How net-zero might be achieved is left open. …Greenwashing is so serious the European Union recently approved new laws banning the use of certain unsubstantiated generic environmental claims, such as “environmentally friendly,” and regulating the use of sustainability labels.