The United Nations Global Compact Ukraine, an initiative promoting responsible business practices, recently named international tobacco giant Imperial Tobacco as one of “the most responsible and far-sighted companies in Ukraine.”
While the company has basked in praise, almost 28% of cancer deaths in Ukraine in 2020 were attributed to smoking. Also, according to the World Health Organization, the global tobacco industry has accelerated deforestation, it uses massive amounts of water and contaminates water systems worldwide.
“For decades, tobacco companies in Ukraine, have been using sustainability ratings for greenwashing and legitimizing themselves as trustworthy and socially responsible,” Lilia Olefir, executive director of anti-tobacco advocacy center Life, told the Kyiv Post.
“Greenwashing” is a PR strategy when companies hide behind ecological and social initiatives to distract from their dubious business practices.
“This allows the industry to gain access to the policy-making table where they can advocate for preferential policies,” Olefir added.
UN Global Compact Ukraine and Imperial Tobacco Ukraine did not respond to the Kyiv Post’s request for comment.
Greenwashing strategy
Global corporations attempt to mask or detract attention from their unsustainable business practices by hiding behind the label of sustainable development and environmental friendliness.
The United Nations Global Compact, which encourages companies to partake in sustainable and socially responsible practices, heavily discourages the participation of tobacco companies in its program and forbids its use in attempts “to raise their profile.”
This rule has not stopped UN Global Compact Ukraine from including Imperial Tobacco in its ranking of the sustainability of Ukrainian companies.
Meanwhile, tobacco companies do far more harm than good. Every year, about 4.5 trillion toxic cigarette butts are released into the environment. Tobacco growing depletes the soil, and toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers pollute groundwater and rivers, Olefir said. About 200 hectares of forest is cut down to grow tobacco yearly.
She added that contrary to popular belief, cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate which takes longer than 10 years to decompose and arsenic and mercury from cigarettes penetrates into the ground, slowing and stunting the growth of plants.
“The tobacco industry always uses a variety of positive ratings, sponsors research on reducing the harm of tobacco to the environment to greenwash its reputation,” said Olefir. “Under the guise of beautiful words, they continue to contaminate the earth with toxins and kill their customers. That is why tobacco corporations are constantly looking for new smokers among teenagers and young people.”
“To reduce cigarette butts, it’s necessary to introduce an environmental tax for tobacco companies and strengthen legislation to reduce the number of teenagers, who use tobacco — because according to research, 95% of smokers start smoking before the age of 21.”
Tobacco companies aren’t the only ones using the greenwashing strategy. The field of corporate social responsibility in Ukraine is a fast-growing industry.
Some companies organize so-called “socially conscious” programs to divert attention from less socially conscious business practices, Maryna Saprykina, chairman of the board of the CSR Development Center, told the Kyiv Post.
Major companies try to gain recognition from international organizations to portray themselves as being guided by sustainability when in reality they are not.
Saprykina said that major companies in dire need of a new reputation regularly approach the center, which helps develop responsible corporate practices in Ukraine.
“We encountered situations when a company received negative comments about its corporate social responsibilities from investors and wanted to join our community immediately,” she said.
In most cases of greenwashing, products are mislabeled as “bio” or “eco-friendly,” when most are not. Companies use misleading branding to appear more environmentally friendly than they are.
In a 2017 paper published by the National Technical University of Ukraine, a researcher highlighted many instances of misleading labels on popular brands across Ukraine.
One brand called out by the paper was Ukrainian horilka (vodka) producer Morosha, which in 2014 created the world’s first “eco-horilka,” made from the “water of Lake Synevyr.” Local experts, however, concluded that this was just a marketing ploy, as the western Ukrainian lake contains very little water.
Another example is the CocaCola-owned bottled water company “BonAqua,” which sells a so-called “eco-friendly” bottle containing 20% less plastic, which is supposedly easier to recycle.
While these bottles do use less packaging, the research illustrated that the savings were used for eco-advertising, which led to more bottle sales and even more waste.
Ukraine does not currently have the infrastructure to recycle plastic bottles and much of the extra plastic ended up in a landfill. According to Nestlé, as little as 16% of waste in Ukraine is segregated and only 5–6% is recycled.
Coca Cola didn’t answer the Kyiv Post’s request for comment.
Misleading labels
The Ukrainian government recently attempted to crack down on attempts to use greenwashing to influence and mislead consumers, especially about consumer products.
In August 2019, Ukraine enacted a law to limit misleading titles in consumer brands. The use of the words “eco,” “organic,” and “bio” now require official certification.
According to Saprykina, corporate responsibility is still developing in Ukraine.
“In terms of business ethics, I believe that it is improving, and companies are working more closely with suppliers, customers, employees and communities,” she said.
“Both social media and greater transparency influence this.”
CSR for investment
Still, there are many successful, well-intentioned and thoroughly developed CSR projects in Ukraine.
Saprykina provided the Kyiv Post with many examples of sustainable corporate practices in Ukraine.
For instance, tech company Softserve created projects to test web applications on behalf of the visually impaired; Starline Media was rewarded for its robust HR and diversity practices, in which it increased the share of women at all levels of the company; and Ukrainian law firm Asters launched charity races on behalf of children with cancer.
The head of the CSR Development Center board also advised Ukrainian companies to pay attention to the projects they implement, ensuring that their projects are both sustainable and fully developed.
A company’s CSR practices may now determine how likely it is to attract foreign investment, retain customers and expand into new, socially conscious markets.
“It is important not to forget that companies that want to work in the European market should pay attention to CSR, because EU countries… are increasingly paying attention to what the company is doing,” Saprykina stated.
