What is greenhushing?
Greenhushing is the deliberate under-communicating of real sustainability action to avoid scrutiny or backlash. Also referred to as brown washing, greenhushing is a form of miscommunication that companies take for a number of reasons (e.g., fear of backlash, uncertain rules, uneven data, strategic considerations about audiences and competition).
In practice, greenhushing occurs in reference to how much, or how specifically, companies talk about their climate action, rather than their ambition level. For instance: a company invests heavily in decarbonisation but doesn’t communicate that on its website, deliberately downplaying its efforts to avoid scrutiny or greenwashing accusations.
Greenwashing vs greenhushing
While greenhushing appears to be a direct response to companies wishing to avoid accusations of greenwashing, the motivations and timeline are more correlated than causal. Both "strategies" co-exist as different responses to the same pressures, such as tighter regulation and stakeholder scrutiny.
Greenwashing history
The term "greenwashing" emerged in the 1980s, matured in the 2000s–2010s through guidance, and became enforceable in the 2020s through regulations such as the EU’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EmpCo).
While greenwashing predates Fridays for Future and other social movements that gained mass-attention in the late 2010s, they nonetheless amplified the term into the mainstream.
Greenhushing history
In comparison, the term "greenhushing" was coined in the mid-2010s. The practice itself though has exited longer under other less-frequently used terms (e.g., "brown washing", "silent green firms", etc.).
The term’s relatively recent adoption suggests that it likewise resulted from the amplification of greenwashing. Recent research argues that corporate greenhushing is the result of high-profile enforcement rulings and institutional complexity (stakeholder demands and regulatory uncertainty).
Why are companies greenhushing?
Although companies have their individual reasons for under-communicating climate action, greenhushing is often framed as a form of risk management rather than lack of ambition.
According to a new BCG/CO2 AI survey, only 7% of companies have externally reported their emissions while 70% of them have maintained or increased their sustainability spending. And even more companies (82%) have captured benefits, such as revenue growth or operational savings, from decarbonisation measures in 2025.
The numbers suggest that companies are taking the necessary internal actions but do not communicate about them.
Beyond regulatory uncertainty, common drivers for greenhushing include fear of missteps under new green claims rules, limited confidence in underlying data, and, in some industries, the assumption that customers or target groups care more about price and performance than sustainability.
The negative consequences of greenhushing
Surveys and studies show that greenhushing undermines brand value, weakens trust, can raise financial costs, reduces talent attraction, and cuts innovations.
- Brand value: Brand Finance found that brands lose out on value that can turn into financial gains because of under-reporting sustainability progress.
- Reputational trust: INTA examined the effect of both greenwashing and greenhushing on brands, flagging that 82% of products lack clear messaging even though consumers demand this information.
- Financing costs: A research survey concluded that mandatory sustainability disclosures led to a "significant reduction" in the cost of equity capital for businesses. Greenhushing therefore risks higher capital costs and weaker liquidity.
- Talent and company culture: The Stepstone Group survey found that two-thirds of employees think sustainability is a high priority for their employer, with almost 40% willing to accept less pay for a more sustainable employer.
- Learning and innovation: Companies under-communicating their sustainability efforts deprive the wider market of best practices and benchmarks, which slows the development of reliable industry standards.
How to communicate sustainability without greenhushing
Companies benefit from communicating credible, science-based environmental claims. For instance:
Dos
Be transparent: Making environmental claims specific, accurate, and verifiable.
Disclose what’s material: If sustainability performance is material to stakeholders or regulations, remaining silent can be just as risky legally as an untrue claim.
Align with standards: Anchoring claims in recognised frameworks (e.g., the GHG Protocol for carbon footprints or SBTi for emission reduction targets) and link to more detailed disclosures where possible.
Emphasise progress over perfection: be clear about interim steps, not only long-term goals, to reduce the perceived need to stay silent until everything is "perfect".
Use certified labels: Communication standards, most notably the EU’s EmpCo, require sustainability labels to be based on recognised certification schemes with independent verification, limiting the use of self-declared environmental labels.
Don’ts
Don’t over-compensate by going silent: Hiding genuine progress from stakeholders can backfire on trust, valuation, and disclosure duties.
Don’t be vague: "Green", "eco-friendly", etc. without precise proof are flagged under upcoming EmpCo, CMA, FTC guidance.
Don’t wait for zero risk: Trying to avoid every possible challenge can make greenhushing stronger (instead focus on substantiated claims that you can explain and document)
Communicating with ClimatePartner
There are numerous benefits to communicating your climate action: trust from customers and business partners, disclosure readiness, and talent trust and acquisition.
With incoming regulations and growing supplier requirements, climate action communication is becoming more complex.
ClimatePartner supports companies by providing robust data, clear documentation, and labels based on third-party certification schemes as required under the EmpCo.
Get in touch today to find out more about ClimatePartner’s communication solutions.