Chapter 2 — full chapter
2.2 Greenwishing
What is greenwishing?
Unlike greenwashing, which exaggerates or misrepresents sustainability performance, greenwishing refers to communicating ambitions, commitments or future goals without a realistic or clearly defined pathway to achieve them. It is not a legal category but rather, a communication concept to be aware of.
Organisations increasingly recognise the importance of setting ambitious sustainability targets. Ambition can inspire innovation, mobilise investment and demonstrate leadership. However, ambition alone is not enough. When organisations communicate long-term aspirations without explaining how they will be achieved - or without demonstrating measurable progress along the way - they risk creating unrealistic expectations among stakeholders. Long-term goals are not greenwishing by nature, but they carry risk when ambition is communicated without credible baselines, milestones, responsibilities, implementation pathways or transparent progress reporting.
Greenwishing often occurs when communication moves faster than implementation. Sustainability strategies may still be evolving, data may be incomplete, or organisations may genuinely believe they will achieve ambitious goals without fully understanding the scale of transformation required. While these aspirations are often well intentioned, they can still undermine credibility if they are not supported by transparent plans and regular progress updates.
Rather than asking organisations to be less ambitious, responsible sustainability communication encourages organisations to communicate ambition alongside accountability.
Why does greenwishing matter?
Ambitious commitments play an important role in accelerating industry transformation. Public targets can encourage innovation, create accountability, and inspire collective action across the fashion value chain. However, when targets are presented without clear milestones or measurable progress, stakeholders may lose confidence in whether meaningful action is taking place.
Consumers and other stakeholders increasingly expect organisations to demonstrate not only where they want to go, but also how they are getting there. Transparent reporting on successes, challenges and lessons learned is often more credible than communicating only future aspirations.
Common characteristics of greenwishing
Greenwishing may include:
- Announcing ambitious sustainability targets without explaining how they will be achieved.
- Communicating future goals without interim milestones or measurable indicators.
- Highlighting commitments while providing little evidence of implementation.
- Relying on technologies or solutions that are not yet proven or available at scale, without explaining how the target will be met if they do not materialise.
- Reporting aspirations more prominently than progress.
These practices do not necessarily involve misleading information, but they can create a gap between stakeholder expectations and organisational performance.
In practice
When communicating sustainability ambitions, consider the following questions:
- Does the communication explain how the target will be achieved?
- Are interim milestones or timelines included?
- Is there evidence that progress is already underway?
- Are uncertainties or challenges acknowledged where appropriate?
- Can stakeholders understand how progress will be measured over time?
Ambition inspires action, but accountability builds trust.