Greenwashing Exposed: Why 400+ Companies Got Caught Lying About Sustainability in 2026

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Did you ever wonder if when businesses
were talking about sustainability that

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they were actually speaking the truth?

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They actually would do the ESG
goals that they actually had?

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Well, apparently not a lot of them did.

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And there's a new regulation in the
EU that is holding these companies

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accountable, and we've kind of
seen about 400 greenwashing-related

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enforcement actions over a number
of different countries already in

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2026 over the US, the UK, across the
EU, Canada, Australia, and India.

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We're gonna talk about those today on
today's episode of the How to Protect

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the Ocean podcast, because this
is where we talk about ocean news.

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And ocean news is about how businesses
conduct themselves in and around

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the ocean and just even on land.

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Because some of these businesses
actually affect the ocean.

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And when they claim that they are being
sustainable and that they are doing good

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things for the environment, they have
to show what they are being good at.

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Why are they being good to
the ocean, or why they are

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being good to the environment?

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They have to prove and provide
evidence that they do so, ' cause

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if not, it's called greenwashing,
and a lot of companies do it.

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Over 400 already companies that
had enforcement action taken

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against them already in 2026.

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We're gonna talk about that on
today's episode, so let's get into it.

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That's right, more than 400
greenwashing-related enforcement

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actions have already been recorded
globally in 2026 across the US, the

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UK, EU, Canada, Australia, and India.

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And the EU's updated consumer protection
regulation entered into force in

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2026, creating legal obligations for
companies to substantiate environmental

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claims made in marketing and in
generic claims like sustainable or eco

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without proof are now being prohibited.

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So, look, I wanna kind of use
the analogy of food labeling.

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When I was first going to the University
of Guelph for, what I wanted to do

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was marine biology, I couldn't get
into the marine biology program,

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didn't have the marks to get in there.

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I had an 85 average.

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Like, let's be honest here, I was doing
pretty well, but people were doing

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better than me when they got in, so
I had to go through another program.

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It was the agricultural science program.

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And during that first year, I took
a course that looked at the economy,

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looked at just, like, food labeling
systems as part of the course.

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And food labeling in Canada
was really interesting.

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It's always been interesting to me.

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And then looking at what they claim
and what's real is really interesting.

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Fat-free in Canada doesn't
actually mean fat-free.

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It's 1.5%, or at the time when
I learned, it was 1.5% fat.

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Now, I'm not debating whether we should
be having fat in our diet or non-fat in

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our diet or things like that, but what
I am saying is if you put down that

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there's 0% fat in a food container, and
there's actually 1.5% fat, that's not 0%.

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1.5 does not equal 0%.

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So it always, like, it always made me
wonder, like, how do these companies

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get away with this kind of stuff?

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The numbers don't add
up, but it's just a label.

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And those labels have categories, and the
numbers within those categories can fit

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within 0% when it's actually 1.5% fat.

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And there's a lot of things that go
on in the labeling system, but this is

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the analogy of what companies can do.

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And actually, they weren't even
held to these types of standards

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in the past when they were saying,
"Yeah, well, we're actually doing

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great things for the environment." I
remember, I remember in Canada, there

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were companies that were doing…

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And actually even the government,
the Alberta government would

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put on these commercials.

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And these are the days where we
were forced to watch commercials.

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Like if I was watching the "Seinfeld"
episode in the '90, '80s and '90s, and

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I was waiting for like, you know, Jerry
and George and Kramer and Elaine to come

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back on, and during a commercial break,
I would see one of these commercials.

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And it was Alberta, and
it was a beautiful day.

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It was sunny skies, no cloud in sight.

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And you see these rolling hills of
like just different types of grasses

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and plants and trees and everything.

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And you see an oil and gas exec or
an actor that's playing an oil and

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gas exec talking about how, " Look,
yes, not only are we providing energy

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for the environment or for the people
of Canada, but we're also making

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sure that our environment is great."

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And it didn't have to be a scene
where this was a tar sand site.

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Obviously it wasn't, because
we would've seen the tar sands.

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Or it doesn't show the ponds that they
empty all their chemicals into and

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that they refuse to clean up and the
government doesn't hold them to clean

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up, and they could be like $100 million
to clean up 'cause there's so much

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chemicals and so much sludge and they've
destroyed everything in those waters.

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Or they don't show how they fractured and
cut up the land so much that migratory

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animals can't even migrate anymore because
they just don't have the land, because

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it's been taken up by new spots for
digging for oil and gas in the tar sands.

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but you would see this commercial
of this beautiful scene, almost

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looked like "Little House on the
Prairie" scene, where you just had

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rolling hills, beautiful grasses,
diversity, all that kind of stuff.

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Yet in the reality of it was it's
cloudy, there's digging, there's

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pollution, there's fires burning because
they need to burn some stuff off.

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There's all this kind of stuff and
industrial stuff and trucks and

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things like that, and cut up land and
trees that have died and so forth.

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And that's just not the real thing.

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That's greenwashing.

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And they were able to do that for decades.

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They were able to say that they
were able to do this kind of stuff.

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And there are companies out there
that are saying that they can do

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something good for the environment
or that they're giving back to the

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environment or they're donating a
certain amount or they're holding beach

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cleanups and things, and they don't.

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And they don't do anything.

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They don't give to charity,
they don't do anything.

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They just keep all that money for
themselves, and they're just greedy.

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And I think people are
just sick of it happening.

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And unfortunately, it takes away
from companies actually doing good

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work with the environment and like
Philips Lighting, like we talked

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about a couple of episodes ago.

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Sustainability could turn into
saving money as well as providing

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a benefit to the environment or
impacting the environment less

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by less emissions and so forth.

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But there's a lot of companies
that are having that.

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And like, it was kind of interesting
'cause there was a surge in sustainable

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investment during the early 2020s
that created the strong incentive to

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use sustainability language broadly
while backing it up pretty thinly.

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And regulators are now correcting that.

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They now realize that these companies
are really misrepresenting what

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they are doing to the environment.

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They could be ruining the
environment in one place and

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helping the environment in another.

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But if they say they're helping and
they're not, now they're just ruining

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the environment and maybe preventing
something else from being helped.

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I have no idea 'cause people
think that it's being helped.

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They're not donating for those
efforts or anything like that.

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I have no idea if that's
happening, but that could happen.

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Now, the SEC has already fined firms,
including Goldman Sachs and DWS,

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multiple millions of dollars for
misrepresenting ESG processes, and

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fined WisdomTree Asset Management $4
million for ESG-related misstatements.

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And the states attorney general in New
York, California, Washington, D.C., have

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filed greenwashing suits under consumer
protection and false advertising laws.

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And in Canada, new penalties tied to
environmental claims substantiation

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have led to some companies to scale
back public ESG statements entirely

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to avoid litigation risk and a trend
that we're now called green hushing.

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So they realize that these laws are
coming in, and they're like, "Okay,

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we're just not gonna talk about it
anymore Or we're gonna talk less

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about it because technically we're not
doing anything for the environment.

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And we're actually doing worse.

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So, , it's better to not say anything
at all than to say something and

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it's not, and you're putting the
environment at risk, or you're

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saying something that's not true,
and you're gonna get fined for it.

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You're gonna get some legal
action taken against you.

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So there's a divergent global approach.

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The EU and the UK regulators aggressively
enforcing ad standards, and the US

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relying more on state AGs, so the attorney
generals, and SEC litigation, Canada

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introducing a private right of action.

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So there are a lot of different
actions that are happening because

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these governments are trying to crack
down on this lying, essentially.

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Lying to say, "Hey, we're actually doing
better for the environment," when they're

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not, or we're saying, " Our products
can be recycled," when they can't be.

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Or, "We're taking back a lot of
our products," or they don't.

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There's a lot of things that will
happen and greenwashing take place,

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which unfortunately takes away from
the significance of actually doing

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something good, like a business actually
doing something good and putting

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sustainability in place and investing
into that circularity part of business.

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I think that's really
what it comes down to.

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So now what you can do as a
listener is you can be skeptical.

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Be skeptical of these vague claims
like eco-friendly, green, carbon

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neutral, and without any evidence
behind them, don't believe them.

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Make them show you the evidence.

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If they claim that they're reducing
emissions, say, "Where on your

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website do you provide this report?"

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And is it true?

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Is it a true report?

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They will go, these companies will go at
lengths, and now that there's litigation

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against it, they're probably gonna go
at worse lengths to try and greenwash,

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they're gonna be sneaky about it.

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But also look for third-party
verification rather than a

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company's own marketing language.

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You don't believe, like, a company
coming out and saying, "Hey, we're

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doing this," without evidence.

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If you have a third party to say,
"Actually, you know what? We're

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staying right in the middle, and
we're gonna say whether you're doing

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it or not," that's who you believe.

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Their skin in the game is to make sure
that they are true and that to show that

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there's some that are doing it and some
that aren't in terms of doing good things

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for the environment and being sustainable.

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Tomorrow we're gonna be talking
to Zena Harris who actually makes

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sure that entertainment industries
and production sites on, like,

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Hollywood movies and TV shows and
so forth are actually sustainable.

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She works as a consultant.

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She works with them to make sure that they
can find everywhere they can make better

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efficiencies for sustainability and
add in some more sustainable workflows.

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She makes sure that they do that.

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Her company does.

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And I have a conversation with her
tomorrow talking about that type of

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subject and why it's so important.

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Like, we're gonna summarize everything
we talked about Monday through Thursday

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and why it's so important for these
production companies and these big movie

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companies that are executive producing
and funding a lot of these productions

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are making sure that these are being put
in place because the people are demanding

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it, the regulations are demanding it.

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They can't greenwash it.

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They gotta actually do it, and there
are people like Zena who are in charge

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who are making sure and working with
them to ensure that they are doing the

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right things and guiding them to make
sure that they get to that avenue.

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And I think it's a great business to
be in, and we're gonna talk to Zena

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Harris tomorrow, so don't miss out.

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You wanna follow this show right
now on your favorite podcast app.

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And of course, if you wanna
support the show, you can do so.

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Go to speakupforblue.com/patreon.

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That's the end of today's episode.

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Enjoy tomorrow's interview with Zena.

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Make sure you listen to that, and I
would love to hear your thoughts on that.

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That's on this podcast called How
to Protect the Ocean podcast, and

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you have been listening to the
How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next time,
and happy conservation.