Since 2010, the international association Two Sides, created by actors in the graphic chain, has been monitoring false environmental information on paper. Since the beginning of this anti-greenwashing campaign, 710 organisations, including many large international companies, have corrected or deleted their unfounded environmental statements.
"The current economic constraints are leading many organisations and companies to try to reduce their costs by switching their users and customers from paper to digital, indicates Two Sides.
All too often, environmental arguments - such as 'Choose electronic invoicing and save a arbre?!' - are put forward by banks, insurance companies, telecom operators, administrations or public services, which are all cases of greenwashing at the expense of paper"
"These allegations are most often unfounded and contrary to environmental communication regulations. But they are also damaging to a sector whose environmental performance has actually been improving for many years, says Jonathan Tame, the Managing Director of Two Sides.
106 companies in Europe changed their claims in 2020
For the year 2020, Two Sides has challenged 320 organisations. 134 of them have already withdrawn or corrected these allegations.
In Europe, 106 organisations have changed their communications, including UK-based electricity supplier EDF Energy, UK retail chain Marks and Spencer, Sparkasse Bank, German bank company Volksbank-Raiffeisenbank, Parisian store BHV/Le Marais and SNCF. The association is continuing its awareness-raising work with others.
Lack of awareness of the paper industry's impact on the environment
"Many of the organisations we talk to are still surprised to learn that European forests actually increased between 2005 and 2015 by an area equivalent to 1?500 football fields per day", notes the Director General.
Two Sides intends to continue this anti-greenwashing fight. "We are always pleased to see the cooperation of many of the companies we contact, who have modified or deleted environmental claims, and always surprised to find that these are most often due to a lack of knowledge of the paper industry and the real - and low - environmental impacts of its production"
