With consumers still being wary about the accuracy of brands in communicating their sustainability efforts and actions (only 20% of consumers, according to the 2025 Sustainability Survey), it’s now more important than ever for brands to work on their green brand messaging framework. Even if, according to the same study, 65% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products, the skepticism towards green claims due to greenwashing is a massive hurdle, as the distrust can limit sustainable marketing efforts and slow down the shift towards truly eco-friendly consumption.

Many brands struggle to clearly and accurately communicate their sustainability initiatives and efforts without making exaggerated or unsubstantiated claims and subsequently bearing the greenwashing label. Therefore, this article will explore building transparent, authentic, and effective eco-conscious brand messaging that brings you closer to your consumers and audience. We’ll look into the impact of greenwashing, how to communicate your sustainability efforts, and how to develop a green messaging strategy that highlights your values, mission, and impact.

How costly is greenwashing?

Consumers are increasingly vigilant, paying more and more attention to green claims, with 55% of fashion shoppers stating they would stop buying from a brand that makes misleading or false claims about the sustainability of their product. Communicating inaccurately and incompletely can deeply affect consumer trust and damage the brand’s overall reputation. Recent greenwashing cases (such as Active Super, Tyson Foods, ESG, or even Coca-Cola) demonstrate the high financial and reputational cost of greenwashing and reinforce the need for genuine, transparent, and real eco-conscious brand messaging to maintain consumer trust and brand credibility.

Does greenwashing have long-lasting effects? Yes!

The long-term impact of greenwashing is profound. In addition to the financial penalties, businesses suffer from a loss of credibility and customer loyalty. Rebuilding this trust is a long and costly process, sometimes surpassing the initial cost of misleading green marketing.

How to avoid deceptive eco-branding?

As a brand looking to communicate your sustainability progress and challenges effectively, copywriting plays a critical role in ensuring your messaging is clear, transparent, and honest. This will be reflected in your website content, product descriptions, and marketing campaigns, creating an overall eco-conscious brand messaging that will help your business avoid greenwashing and maintain the trust of your customers.

To make this easier for your brand to build an authentic sustainability communication strategy, you can use what I call the CLEAR method (Clarity, Legitimacy, Ethics, Accuracy, Responsibility):

• CLARITY – use jargon-free language and clearly explain the environmental impact of production, packaging, distribution, and disposal

• LEGITIMACY – back up your claims with actions and get certified and verified (e.g. Carbon Trust, Cradle to Cradle, USDA Organic, etc)

• ETHICS – provide honest, transparent updates that highlight challenges and progress

• ACCURACY – avoid misleading information and language

• RESPONSIBILITY- own your sustainability journey, highlight progress and challenges, and things that failed or succeeded.

Because this article is meant to focus on actionable steps to apply the CLEAR method to your eco-friendly business, we’ll take a closer look and unpack all the elements you need to build a green brand messaging framework.

Clear and jargon-free communication

To ensure your customers understand and support wholeheartedly your sustainability efforts and mission, your messaging must be simple, direct, and not burdened with confusing terminology. To make this easier to implement in your daily copywriting and brand messaging, you can follow the steps below:

• Avoid technical sustainability terms and use simple, direct, jargon-free language
• Explain your product life cycle clearly, without complicated terms – go through production, packaging, distribution, and disposal processes
• Present your sustainability efforts in digestible, relatable information – for example, “our [insert product] is 100% compostable and it breaks down completely in XXXX days”
• Use bullet points when explaining
• Use infographics to explain sustainability terms, concepts, and processes
• Prioritize the FAQs section as a tool to address your customers’ concerns
• Use clear headers in your website copy, concise product descriptions, without forgetting to reference your sustainability efforts in your copy and content
• Create focused newsletters, each email should be focused on one goal, one initiative, one sustainability effort, progress, and challenge

Talk the talk, and WALK the WALK

With consumers being more vigilant and wary about the green claims that brands put out there, it’s more important than ever to support your claims with actions. Offer tangible proof to gain and maintain the trust of your consumers and clients. Walk the credibility and trust walk!

Take these steps:

• Get certified and verified – Carbon Trust, USDA Certification, Cradle to Cradle, B Corporation – if you would like to know more about these certifications, you can read more in the articles of the Talk Green to Me Collection
• Always link to third-party audits, reports or verifications that back your claims
• Partnerships – always highlight your partnerships with authentic and credible environmental organizations
• Case studies & testimonials – make sure to showcase any case studies or testimonials that support and enhance your customers’ trust in your brand

Now for the more targeted copywriting tips:

• Make sure you include a sustainability page or an Impact page in your website copy
• Don’t forget to address sustainability/circularity/impact in your FAQs page/section
• Be sure to include your certifications and/or their badges in your product descriptions
• Include testimonials, case studies, audits, and any supporting materials in your newsletter to enhance your brand’s trust

True to the core

Your commitment to sustainability must be an open book. Share your progress and your challenges, share your journey with good and bad, and everything in between to build an authentic connection with your customers and an authentic brand that leads through honesty and transparency.

Take these actions:

• Publish regular reports and studies highlighting your green journey and areas that are still works in progress
• Behind-the-scenes are essential – customers need and want to see what you’re facing every day, what your struggles and your wins are

You need these copywriting tips:

• Use plain, clear language that doesn’t leave room for interpretation and reduces any danger of greenwashing – for example, instead of We’re 100% sustainable – say “we’re working to become fully sustainable by 2029, and until this mont,h we reduced waste by xx%”
• Address FAQs in your copy and content
• Include an updates section in your Blog – to keep up with your green journey
• If you’re looking for another channel to keep your customers posted with your updates or share your challenges, your newsletter is the best way to go.
• The same updates can be sprinkled in your product descriptions which must be reviewed and updated as soon as possible

No Green Tricks, just Green Facts

Accuracy is one of the most important aspects of your sustainability journey. It needs to transpire through your entire brand messaging, your overall copy, and content. So, let’s make this simple – all your claims should be:

• Fact-checked
• Specific
• Verified

Take these steps in your copy and content:

• All green claims should be double-checked before publishing – don’t shy out from getting a fresh pair of eyes on the copy before publishing
• Indicate the sources for all your reports and studies you cite within your materials
• Use precise language and avoid any misleading formulas
• Use precise numbers instead of vague claims – e.g. “Our carbon footprint reduced by xxx% during this year”
• If necessary, use disclaimers to clarify areas that are still a work in progress
• Make sure you share your sustainability progress and timelines in your newsletter
• Use exact impact/results in all your product descriptions – reduces water consumption by XXX%/reduces your carbon footprint by XXX%, recycles xxx% bottles from our oceans

Own it, grow it, share it

Your sustainability journey is unique, and it’s your responsibility as a growing eco-brand to share your progress and your challenges, to advocate for transparency and clarity in your brand messaging. An honest, transparent green brand is a successful green brand.

Take these steps:

• Create an impact timeline to showcase where you started and where you are now in your green journey
• Make sure you regularly add your progress to your updates section of your blog
• Encourage feedback and suggestions from your customers – create a quiz, a questionnaire, or a poll on social media
• Bring your community and customers closer by participating in common sustainability efforts – recycling programs, carbon offset programs, etc
• For your website copy, maintain a sustainability timeline – and update it regularly!
• Share your timeline, updates, polls, and efforts in your newsletter to keep your customers updated
• Highlight how your product fits in your sustainability goal – now this one is very important to include in your product descriptions at all times.

Following all five steps of the CLEAR method, you can build brand messaging that is authentic, trust-building, and transparent. A strong brand messaging that will support your business on your green journey. As your customers demand transparency and honesty, you can use this framework to refine your copywriting efforts and create brand messaging that truly connects with your audience.

💚Need help applying the CLEAR method to your eco-brand? You can use this free DIY Clear Eco-Messaging Blueprint to get you started and make sure you follow all the steps.

💚Want to craft a transparent and clear brand messaging but need guidance? Let’s do it together! My CLEAR Eco-Messaging Copy is a Done For You solution.

💚Looking for a more collaborative approach? I love a good collab with CLEAR Copy Co-Lab, a DWY (Done with You) solution for eco-friendly businesses.

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