Greenwashing is effectively when an organisation or company gives a false or misleading impression of the positive environmental impact of a product, service or process.

A greenwashing company is making unsubstantiated claims to deceive customers and other stakeholders (e.g. investors) into believing their products are environmentally friendly or give the impression that the firm's service offering has a more positive climate impact than it actually does.     

Greenhushing occurs when a firm either resists sharing their sustainability data to avoid full scrutiny or holds back on sharing positive action for fear of being accused of greenwashing. 

Greenhushing should not be mistaken for greenwashing. Whilst greenwashing aims to deliberately overstate impact, greenhushing does the opposite. Greenhushing deliberately understates impact and hides sustainability data from scrutiny, either because it fails to hit targets or that disclosure may risk a customer boycott and brand damage.