Greenwashing Checker: test the words on the pack
Paste the copy. See which claims mean something and which mean nothing.
Most environmental marketing is legal, fluent and empty. Words like natural, eco-friendly, conscious, green and responsible carry no legal definition in most markets, so any brand can print them on anything. The result is a shelf where the loudest packaging is often the weakest product.
The Greenwashing Checker reads marketing copy the way a regulator would. It flags every claim that cannot be verified, explains why the phrasing is weak, and gives you the precise follow-up question that would force a real answer.
The patterns it catches
Greenwashing is formulaic. Once you know the templates, you see them everywhere.
- Undefined virtue words: natural, eco, clean, conscious, pure, responsible, planet-friendly.
- Unquantified improvement: greener, better for the planet, reduced impact — reduced from what baseline?
- Irrelevant claims: CFC-free on a product where CFCs have been banned for decades.
- Hidden trade-offs: recyclable packaging on a product whose footprint sits almost entirely in the ingredients.
- Self-issued badges: a house-designed leaf logo that looks like a certification but audits nothing.
- Future pledges used as present-tense credentials: carbon neutral by 2040 printed as if it were today.
What a strong claim looks like
A credible claim is specific, measurable, third-party verified and covers a material part of the product's footprint. "78% post-consumer recycled PET, verified by SCS Global" is a claim. "Made with the planet in mind" is a mood.
The checker distinguishes the two and shows you which of the claims in your text would survive scrutiny under emerging rules such as the EU Green Claims Directive and the UK Green Claims Code.
Using it before you buy — or before you publish
Shoppers use it to sanity-check a product page before ordering. Brand and sustainability teams use it in reverse: paste your own draft copy and remove the claims you cannot substantiate before a regulator or a journalist does it for you.
Frequently asked questions
Does a flag mean the brand is lying?+
No. It means the claim as written cannot be verified by a reader. Many flagged claims are true but poorly evidenced.
Is my pasted text stored?+
No. The check runs for your session only and nothing is retained.
Can I use it on my own product copy?+
Yes, and that is one of its most useful applications — it surfaces unsubstantiated claims before publication.
Keep reading
Label & Certification Lookup: what the logo actually proves
Every mark, what it audits — and what it quietly leaves out.
Ingredient Decoder: read any label in ten seconds
Free, instant, and nothing you paste is ever stored.
Methodology: how every score is calculated
Published in full, applied identically, open to challenge.
Reviewed and maintained by the EthiCompare editorial team.