Defining True Sustainability Amid Growing Greenwashing Risks: Identifying Genuine Eco-Friendly Products with LCA Insights

In our latest podcast, join Catherine Beare and Monisha Monachan, as they dive into how to spot genuine eco-friendly products. Discover how life cycle assessments (LCAs) and environmental product declarations (EPDs) bring real transparency to sustainability claims, and why this matters more than ever in today’s market.

Tune in for practical insights that help cut through the noise, and separate true sustainability from clever marketing.

Speakers:

Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)
Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

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Transcript

Defining True Sustainability Amid Growing Greenwashing Risks: Identifying Genuine Eco-Friendly Products with LCA Insights

00:17 --> 01:34
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Hello and welcome to this podcast, where we're going to be looking at defining true sustainability amid growing greenwashing risks and identifying genuine eco friendly products with LCA insights. I am your host, Catherine Bear, Regional Business Director, Business Assurance in UK & Iberia, and I am delighted to be joined by my colleague from our Assurance business, Monisha Monachan--who's been with Intertek for just over 1.5 years, with over five years in the sustainability space and she leads up life cycle assessments, as well as LCA and also doing EPDs (Environment Product Declarations), here at Intertek . 

So I'm delighted to be joined with Monisha thank you for joining us today.

Also, given that we've heard a number of changes on some of the legislation fronts over the last week as well. So, I'm sure Monisha, our customers are going to be very interested to hear from you--how they can really turn this into a positive way of doing business.

So Monisha, let’s get started!

01:34 --> 01:44
 Speaker 2 – Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Thank you for having me.

I'm really excited to be here and to talk about green washing and more importantly, how LCA can help us avoid false or misleading sustainability claims.

01:44 --> 01:57
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Fantastic. OK. So let's get into it.

First things first, let's start with the simple what is greenwashing and why is it such a big problem today?

01:57 --> 02:54
 Speaker 2 – Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Today, as the world increasingly embraces the language of sustainability, terms like eco-friendly green and sustainable have become more of a part of our daily conversation. You see them everywhere. You see them on packaging, advertisements, websites everywhere. But here's the catch, this growing trend brings the risk of wake and unverified claims phrases like biodegradable carbon friendly, made from recycled plastics, or climate positive are often thrown around without any scientific validation or explanation.

In fact, the European Union shows that about 53% of green claims are vague and misleading and around 40% lack evidence at all. That's where greenwashing comes in. It's when companies exaggerate or falsely promote the environmental benefits of their products, services, or practices to appear more sustainable than actually they are.

02:54 --> 03:10
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Absolutely, I mean, those numbers are shocking actually. I know that you've seen this happen first hand. Actually. Now could you share a personal story? Because I find that highly interesting. When you told me about it, Monisha.

03:10 --> 04:51
 Speaker 2 – Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Yes, absolutely. I have experienced this first hand. So, for years, I have been using this local moisturizer brand. It came in a very simple white bottle made of HDPE plastic, which is recyclable. I appreciated the minimal packaging and it felt responsible. But during a recent visit to the store, something caught my eye, the same product, now comes in a bright green bottle, proudly labeled Go green pack. 

At first I was thrilled. I thought, wow, the brand that I'm trusting is stepping up. But being in the field of sustainability, I couldn't just take it at face value. I asked myself what exactly made this bottle green? What's all about this new packaging? So I did some digging. Turns out nothing. Nothing has changed except the colour of the bottle. It was the same plastic, just dyed green and ironically this this made the bottle less sustainable. Coloured plastics are harder to recycle. Studies have shown that depigmented clear or white plastics have higher market value and a better reuse options compared to dark colour plastics, which are often downcycled into lower value applications if they are recycled at all.

That was a moment it hit me. The company wasn't becoming green. They just wanted to look green and that's the real danger. Many consumers, especially those who are new to sustainability, might see a green bottle, might just trust the label, and believe that they are making a great choice. This is how greenwashing misleads people, dilutes the work of genuinely sustainable companies, and allows polluting industries to avoid accountability. It creates the illusion of progress without the substance.

04:51 --> 05:16
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Yeah, I know that really brings it home and I couldn't agree more. It's not about how green a product looks, literally, but what it truly does for the planet.

So I mean, how can we get past the surface? I mean, let's move on. That brings us nicely into life cycle assessment. 

Yeah. Talk me through it a little bit.

05:16 --> 06:57
 Speaker 2 – Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Exactly. So a life cycle assessment, or an LCA, is a science-based method that helps us evaluate the environmental impact of a product or a process across its entire life cycle. That means everything from raw material extraction, to production, to transport, use, and disposal. LCA quantifies impacts like carbon emissions, water use, toxicity and energy consumption. It gives us a full picture. Take, for example a simple cotton T-shirt. It might be labeled natural or eco conscious, but an LCA can reveal the true impact--maybe the environmental impact might not just be coming from making at shirt. It might be coming from large volumes of water and pesticides used from cotton farming, or from the energy that was used during manufacturing of those T-shirts, or the dyes and chemicals that were involved in making the T-shirt, or even from shipping across continents.

So even a product that looks green may have much deeper environmental footprint.

Let's take another example of a smartphone. A tech company might promote its product as sustainable because it uses recycled aluminium in the casing, but the LCA could reveal that most of the environmental burden comes from semiconductor production, energy intensive cloud infrastructure, and short product lifespans. So LCA is like a sustainability X-ray, it goes beyond feel good marketing, and reveals what exactly is going on in numbers and facts.

06:57 --> 07:12
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

I mean, I just love that sustainability X-ray. Let's talk about red flags.

What should consumers watch out for when a vendor, when they're evaluating green claims?

07:12 --> 08:20
 Speaker 2 – Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

So there are a few big ones. 

First is vague claims, broadly used words like green or eco-conscious. Sounds good. But if the label doesn't explain why that's a red flag. Take a detergent for instance. If it says eco-friendly but doesn't mention biodegradable ingredients or a sustainable packaging, ask questions.

Second is lack of transparency. If a company doesn't share how their products are sustainable, or how they are sourced or they do not have any LCA data or a third-party verification, that's another flag. A furniture company claiming sustainably sourced wood should obviously have a fsc certification, right?

And the third is no third-party certification. If sustainability claims are based only on internal data, that's risky. Legitimate brands go for life cycle assessments, environmental product declarations or verified carbon metrics. Some even link QR codes to their product for full disclosures, so watch out for these three.

08:20 --> 08:45
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

The QR code is a big piece now and I think this is assuring for the consumer to have an easy way to digest and get a hold of this information. 

And what about those common claims we all see? Like 100% recyclable, or you know, 100% biodegradable, etc., I mean, I'd like to hope they're always true, but question mark?

08:45 --> 09:21
 Speaker 2 – Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Oh, those are tricky. 100% recyclable doesn't guarantee the product will be recycled. It completely depends on the local recycling infrastructures and whether the consumer actually recycles it, and biodegradable--it's almost meaningless unless it specifies the condition and timeframe, like home composting versus industrial composting. The best thing to do is look for certifications.

Read the fine print. Check for LCA data or ESG reports. Responsible brands publish verified metrics and explain the end-of-life impact of their products.

09:21 --> 09:49
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Yeah, which is what you'd expect to see. Let's change gears slightly and talk about the government's role. Because let's face it, we know that when it comes to making sustainability changes happen on larger scales, we tend to find that the legislation route is what helps the best.

So talk me through a little bit about what governments are doing, if anything, around the world to crack down on green washing, please Monisha.

09:49 --> 11:04
 Speaker 2 – Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Yes, the government and the regulators are stepping up in a big way. For instance, in Australia, the ACCC, that's the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is cracking down hard. In 2025, they issued new guidance specifically targeting greenwashing and even penalized brands for unsupported claims.

The UK enforces the Green claim Code, and India is also developing its own eco-labeling standards aligned with global frameworks.  In European Union, the Green Claim Directive was introduced in 2023 prohibited vague terms like eco friendly unless companies would back them up with scientific evidence and independent audits. However, as per recent reports, the directive has been withdrawn in June 2025, following industrial and political pushback, mainly due to the concerns overburden on small businesses. But it's not the end, the Green Claim Directive may return in more flexible, economically focused form in the future.

Meanwhile, I think the company's making environmental claims must continue to do so and support them with credible evidences.

So yes, the pressure is on, and rightly so.

11:04 --> 11:15
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Yeah, fully agree.

And that is encouraging to hear. Monisha, this has been fantastic. So look, as we wrap up, where do you see LCA heading in the future?

11:15 --> 12:20
 Speaker 2 – Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

LCA is evolving fast, but it's also a double-edged sword. If done poorly with narrow boundaries or selective data, it can actually contribute to greenwashing. That's why third-party verification is so important.

Looking ahead, we will see more automated LCA tools integration with e-commerce platforms and digital sustainability dashboards. Consumers will have easier access to verified impact data right from their phones. 

Two big changes in Europe are leading to the shift. One is digital product passport, so it's a digital record that travels with the product listing its environmental data, including verified LCA metrics and the second one is the construction product Regulation or CPR. So it's a revised and requires a full disclosure of environmental impact for building materials. Without those, some products may lose access to the market. As a result life cycle assessment and environmental product declaration will be more essential in the coming future.

12:20 --> 12:43
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Fantastic. Look, Monisha, thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today. It's been, absolutely fascinating.

LCA is clearly becoming a critical tool, not just for companies, but for regulators and eventually for everyday consumers, I guess as well.

12:43 --> 12:58
 Speaker 2 – Monisha Monachan, Assistant Manager, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Exactly. So it's time we just stopped settling for green labels. Let's start asking questions. Let's look deeper, and also demand better, because I believe real change doesn't just look good, it actually does good.

12:58 --> 14:43
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Could not agree more.

And on that note, thank you so much, Monisha for sharing your expertise with us today. And if you found this helpful, be sure to follow share and stay tuned for the next podcast and blog post which is coming. The changing landscape of EPD requirements.

And with that, that ends today's podcast. So listen out, as I'm sure you will, for many more podcasts, and a blog on greenwashing that are coming. 

As a reminder, here's how intertek can help you on your sustainability journey, we have a number of services where we can conduct life cycle assessments. We can conduct product and organizational LCA's to measure environmental impacts and support eco design and decision making, as well as also looking at GHG assurance, where we can help you quantify your greenhouse gas emissions, and we can also verify your GHG to align with global climate frameworks and many more. 

For more information, please do go and visit our website www.intertek com/assuris/sustainability.

So that concludes today's podcast. Thank you so much Monisha for joining me and thank you to you the listener for joining in today and we look forward to many more podcasts to come. 

Thank you all.