The Global Greenwashing Report #4

Welcome to this edition of The Global Greenwashing Report. Each week I'll bring you the latest news, views, and trends in the world of greenwashing.

With heads still spinning from last week's barrage of climate news here in Australia, the rest of the world keeps turning. From methane leaks to fireworks, bovine exterminations to ice cream, here's the week that was in greenwashing.

This Week’s Greenwashing Big Three

1. The Santos Cover Up

Santos’s Darwin gas export hub has been secretly leaking methane for 18 years.

Apparently, Santos and former owner ConocoPhillips knew about the huge methane leak, as did state and federal regulators. It was leaking close to 200 kilograms of methane every hour. The scale is somewhere equivalent to 8,300 new cars hitting the road every year that facility was in operation.

When officials did find out, they were concerned about a threat to the public from a massive explosion. But corporate execs talked them back from shutting down the facility. Today, this massive eski looking thing sits empty. But it’s set to be refilled later this year, with new owner Santos starting their controversial $5.6 billion Barossa project. Have they tried to fix the leak first? Of course not! That leak’s going to continue to decades.

This is a pretty massive scandal that I’m ashamed I didn’t know about sooner. And I pay attention to this stuff, so who knows how few people are actually across it.

2. Told You So

Outdoor clothing brand Arc'teryx is in hot water after a potentially destructive fireworks display in the Himalayan Mountains. This is one of the worlds most beautiful, and delicate, ecosystems. For a brand that aligns itself with environmental conservation, the math ain’t mathin’.

Arc'teryx admitted the event was a misstep. They said it was wildly out of line with their values, especially about the conservation of outdoor spaces. Accompanying their apology was the boilerplate promise to re-evaluate practices and procedures. According to an internal source that reached out to me, though, it seems the approval was very much within line of the company's practices. After the show was knocked back in two different markets, China finally capitulated and let it go ahead.

I contacted Arc'teryx about a year ago to warn them of their potential greenwashing risk. Maybe they should have listened, because now customers are calling for a boycott.

If you ever see an email from me, it’s not for my benefit. It’s for yours.

3. Fall From Grace

Jerry quits Ben & Jerry’s.

It’s rare to see a prominent figure stand up for their values, even when that means losing something they care about so deeply. Jerry would rather stand on business, though, than be complicit in the silencing of their brand’s purpose.

This is another mark against Unilever, a company once seen as the poster child of corporate sustainability. But to paraphrase fellow BSR alum Alison Taylor, why would we have ever thought a company that makes diapers and candy bars could save the planet?

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A Colourful Cast of Characters at the UN

First, they were eating the cats. Now, they're killing the cows!

Trump's rambling, incoherent, misinformed address to the United Nations' General Assembly adds to the rich tapestry of comical plenary speeches by heads of state each September.

• I was there when Ahmadinejad said there were no gay people in Iran (as the hall erupted in laughter).

• I also had the pleasure of seeing Hugo Chavez get up after George Bush. He paused, looked to the heavens, and pled for help because the dais reeked of sulphur (since Satan incarnate had just stood there).

• It seems every few years someone rips up a copy of the Charter, most recently Gaddafi.

• One year, Bibi got up with essentially a hand drawn picture of a bomb to substantiate whatever propaganda talking points he had.

• Castro spoke for almost five hours once.

But the most infamous of all, the stuff of urban legends, was Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev banging his shoe on the rostrum while screaming he would bury his country's enemies (there's never been any substantiated evidence of this actually happening).

For the record, as someone who works in sustainability I don't think I've ever once called for a mass bovine extermination. 

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This Weekend's Essential Reading

Looking for something juicy to sink your eyeballs into this weekend? Here's a handy list of what I'm reading.

• The Production Gap has released new findings in its 2025 Report highlighting the gap between climate ambition and reality.

• Enough: A Review of Corporate Sustainability in a World Running Out of Time by EY.

• The Visionary CEO’s Guide to Sustainability 2025 by Bain & Co.

• A World in Balance by Capgemini.

• Climate Action in Shipping: Progress Towards Shipping's 2030 Breakthrough by the Getting to Zero Coalition.

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