Climate Changed
Greenwashing Concerns Soar as Companies Vow to Clean Emissions
A surge in pledges by companies to cut pollution is drawing more scrutiny and tougher questions from environmentalists.
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On the first day of United Nations climate talks in Madrid, Spain’s top newspapers printed full page advertisements from Endesa SA, the country’s biggest polluter -- and also a key sponsor of the conference.
The Madrid-based utility plans to shut its coal power plants in the Iberian peninsula and boost renewable energy. But the publicity campaign quickly backfired on social media, drawing critics who noted that Endesa remains a major contributor to greenhouse gases. That stirred debate about how to separate the businesses working to protect the environment from those just pretending to do so, or “greenwashing.”