The Term “whitewash” means to cover up faults or crimes. A new word, “greenwash,” appeared in the late 1980s. It means to disseminate misleading information to conceal one’s abuse of the environment in order to portray a positive public image.
Today, more enterprises are making environmental protection a part of their public relations work while they continue to abuse the environment. For example, British-based oil company BP, which has been in the news because of the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill, is a notorious “greenwasher.” Their irresponsible handling of the spill showed the whole world how companies can make profits paying lip-service to environmental protection.
Taiwan’s conglomerates are not much better. A well known convenience store has a poster on its door which says “we practice energy conservation and carbon reduction,” when in reality we should consume less if we actually want to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. One major high-tech company once held a high-profile international forum on “corporate social responsibility” and invited environmental groups from overseas to attend the event, but remained tight-lipped about the water pollution caused by its factories.
However, while greenwashing may be common practice around the world, in Taiwan the government itself puts on quite a few “environmental protection shows.”
After being in power for two years, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government has repeated the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) old adage that industrial development trumps environmental protection, strongly supporting certain sectors that consume vast amounts of water and emit high levels of carbon dioxide. A case in point would be the fourth-stage expansion project of the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP), as well as the Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co. Despite clear evidence of pollution, the government did not impose substantial penalties.
In the groundwater pollution case of Formosa Plastics Group’s Jenwu plant, the Environment Protection Administration (EPA) has been reluctant to suspend the company’s operations.
However, as soon as the interests of developers are threatened, officials often work assiduously to protect them. After the Supreme Administrative Court withdrew the environmental impact assessment on the CTSP’s third-stage expansion project, the EPA even spent large amounts of money on newspaper advertisements arguing against the court’s opinion. This was quite a show they put on.
In contrast to the old KMT government’s “developmentalism,” the new KMT government has acquired the skill of greenwashing. Not long after Ma came into power, he said that he would not wear a suit jacket and told the public not to have barbeques during Moon Festival in an attempt to save energy and reduce carbon emissions.
In the recent low-carbon campus project, the Ministry of Education actively pushed for “no meat Mondays” and turning off all the lights for one hour at noon, but what are these tricks suppsoed to achieve? Does the government hope that the public will reduce their carbon emissions so that the conglomerates they are in bed with can emit more?
The above examples show the government’s three basic greenwashing techniques. First, it emphasizes reducing consumption over production. Second, it protects conglomerates while making excessive demands on the public. Third, it talks about responsibilities instead of rights.
The Ma administration does a good job of packaging its tricks with big, beautiful words. For example, the government has now postponed its carbon reduction deadline from 2020 to 2025, but also declared its intent to “save Taiwan with environmental protection” during the so-called “golden decade.”
The Basic Environment Act (環境基本法) states clearly that the principle of environmental protection should be the first priority in all matters. However, during his inspection of the 202 Munitions Works site in Taipei City’s Nankang District, Ma said that economic development and environmental protection should be given equal consideration. In addition, the government is still unable to find a suitable site for nuclear waste disposal in Taiwan, but the administration still hopes to present the operation of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant as a birthday gift for the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China next year.
Greenwashing, either for business profits or political gains, is a sneaky trick. However, we can boycott irresponsible enterprises by using the power we have as consumers and can stop the government from greenwashing by using our votes. This is the only way those in power will ever truly value environment protection.
Ivan Ho is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at National Taiwan University.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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