Greenwashing, Europeans ready to boycott in case of deceptive practices

You deceive me with false environmental messages? And I no longer buy your products. Or, in the financial field, I disinvest from your stocks. Boycotting has become one of the main consequences of greenwashing at least according to the 'Sustainability Study 2025' survey carried out by the company FFIND in five European countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and, of course, Italia.

The people most inclined to boycott fake green products are the Spanish: 73.7% reported stopping purchases if they discovered a company's involvement in greenwashing practices. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the French (48.5%) who are more reluctant to such initiatives. The Italians take third place (68.5%) right after the British who are almost as susceptible (68.7%) as the Iberians.

The ranking is replicated almost identically if the boycott initiative concerns investments: the Spaniards are again the most decisive (76.6 per cent) while the most lukewarm in this case are the Germans with 56.3 per cent. Where, on the other hand, the Italians prevail is in the so-called 'negative word of mouth': as many as 65.3% would try to convince friends and relatives to boycott certain fake green products.

Greenwashing is an important phenomenon in the field of environmental communication. What matters to consumers/investors, however, is the credibility of sustainability messages. In Europe, there is much scepticism about the way companies communicate in this area. The most sensitive to this issue are once again the Spaniards: as many as 80.7 per cent described the sustainable communication of companies as not credible or greenwashing; right behind them are the Germans (78.4 per cent) and the Italians (77.1 per cent). It is perhaps in this area that many companies will have to work harder. Also because consumers/investors did not wait for the greenwashing directive to rebel against certain practices. Again according to FFIND's survey, those interviewed have already at least once avoided buying a product or brand because it was considered insufficiently sustainable; on this point the Germans beat everyone (58.4) followed by the French (55.2%) and the British (53%). Italians, on the other hand, are in fourth place in this ranking (52.8%). Last are the Spaniards (51.9%).

The topic of greenwashing is very hot, given that in Italia the European Directive 2024/825 was transposed at the end of March and will come into force in September. "Ennio Armato, global ceo of FFIND, points out: "The topic of greenwashing is much debated. We work alongside important research institutes, on studies whose beneficiaries are institutions such as the EU Commission and the ECB, and we will present, on 12 May at the European Parliament, the results of our survey at the Citizen Insights Summit Democracy in focus. He adds: 'To read this data correctly, it is crucial to consider the context in which it was collected. European consumers today are dealing with an overlap of economic, energy and geopolitical pressures that inevitably reduce the mental space dedicated to long-term issues such as sustainability. In this scenario, environmental concern remains high, but is more difficult to translate into consistent and continuous choices'.