Welcome to the Age of Postwashing

The era of greenwashing may have lasted only a few years. A period in which large corporations felt obliged to publish (timid) transition plans, conceal often uncomfortable truths, and present a greener face to the world—greener than coal-black or oil-black realities. That time already feels like a distant memory.

A succession of crises and emergencies has ushered in a new rhetoric, reaffirmed in the Draghi Plan, enthusiastically embraced across Europe: the notion that “there’s no more room” now. Now it’s time to “get serious.” As if respecting human rights or fighting the climate crisis were peripheral issues.

A Look Back

Let’s take a step back to understand how we got here—and why greenwashing may be giving way to a new era. When Laurent Fabius, then president of COP21, struck the wooden gavel to mark the adoption of the Paris Agreement, it was seen as a wake-up call for world leaders. It was November 2015. Barack Obama was president of the United States, François Hollande led France, and Angela Merkel was in charge in Germany. Despite any criticism one might have had, that world seems long gone.

That world listened to science. Of course, turning words into action was necessary. But at least, in writing, it was stated that the world needed to meet a clear goal: limit the rise in global average temperature to a maximum of 2°C by the end of the century, ideally staying as close as possible to 1.5°C. Every government signed on—even the petro-states of the Gulf, coal-powered India, and Putin’s Russia.

But this required collective commitment. National institutions had to lead with legislation. Local governments were expected to do their part. Companies needed to embrace epochal transition plans, investing with a long-term outlook rather than short-term neoliberal logic. Banks and investors, too, had to rethink their strategies, putting aside the obsession with fast profits.

In short, a paradigm shift was needed. A new path, a new method. An awareness of the emergency—just like what happened later with the pandemic.

The Rise of Greenwashing

For many big companies, however, the “emergency” was something else entirely: the need to maintain business as usual while making governments, clients, and investors believe they were part of the fight against climate change. This is when greenwashing was born.

Media campaigns, green-tinted logos, initiatives (sometimes real, but negligible in scale), alliances, statements, grand announcements, handshakes. All designed to clean up appearances—but not consciences.

Let’s be honest: many of these companies, banks, investment funds, and even governments were simply waiting for an event, a crisis, any excuse to turn back.

And that moment arrived.

The first blow came with the pandemic and the urgency to “restart” the economy. That’s when people began to say that the ecological transition is all well and good, but “we must face reality.”

The second was the invasion of Ukraine. Supporting peace didn’t mean dialogue—it meant arming Kyiv. “We need billions,” they said. Climate policies had to wait or be scaled back. The EU’s 2020 Green Deal was nice and useful—but “now war has returned to Europe.”

The third blow was the energy crisis. The best possible scenario for coal, oil, and gas companies. What better excuse to say that with Russian fossil fuels in short supply, Western ones were essential again?

Finally, came the knockout punch: Trump’s re-election, America’s retreat from the East, and the immediate rearmament drive pushed by Brussels and European governments. Tens, hundreds, possibly thousands of billions will be spent on missiles, tanks, jets, drones, bombs—and military-grade artificial intelligence.

A Clear Message to Business

The message to businesses couldn’t have been clearer: “do whatever you want.” A free-for-all that probably made some regret their expensive green marketing campaigns—painting six-legged dogs green, adding “green power” to their brands, creating catchy slogans.

In recent years, major banks and investment funds have abandoned their climate alliances one by one. Oil giants have revised their sustainability plans. Mining companies are once again looking to the future, rubbing their hands with glee. And arms manufacturing is now fully legitimized, with relentless propaganda and any dissenting voices silenced by mainstream media.

Across Europe, there’s increasing talk of dismantling the already insufficient regulations on climate, the environment, and human rights that were painfully achieved in recent years.

Welcome to the Age og Postwashing

Greenwashing is no longer necessary. Slowly but surely, all that will remain are a few marketing strategies aimed at preserving customer niches that still care about forests, nature, biodiversity, and climate balance. There’s no longer even a need to save face.

That at least has one benefit: a clearer distinction between those who only pretended to care about the climate, and those who truly did.

Welcome to the age of postwashing.

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This article was translated from Italian by the editorial team of Valori.it with the support of AI tools.