YOU may recently have read reports that the era of ‘greenwashing’ is over.
With stricter rules coming into force in the UK and EU over terms such as ‘carbon neutral’ and ‘nature positive’ in adverts, companies will have to work a lot harder to earn their green credentials.

No longer will high-polluting firms be able to claim they are environmentally friendly because they also plant trees.

The problem with carbon offsetting is that it all works in theory. In practice, the value of a newly planted tree can only be guessed at, but it suits unscrupulous companies to make over-optimistic claims about the woodlands they plant, which is cheaper and easier than reducing their own waste and emissions.

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And there are simple actions that business can take to make a positive difference, however small. For example, the print edition of this month’s issue is the first to be delivered to subscribers in a 100-per-cent compostable wrap rather than plastic.

As you would expect, this comes at an additional cost to Forestry Journal, but I think it’s a price well worth paying to reduce the amount of plastic waste going through the system (and so reduce our impact on the environment).

Is it enough to make us ‘carbon neutral’? I doubt it. I’m writing this a day before I’m due to board a plane to Stockholm (for the Swedish Forestry Expo), so I know my own carbon footprint would earn a disapproving glare from Greta Thunberg.

But it is a positive action we can take and so we’re taking it. It’s worth considering what changes you could make in your own business or personal life. However small, they could end up making all the difference.