The GALA Global Conference brought together speakers from the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, and New Zealand to tackle a question that's been bubbling away for a while now: why are brands going quiet on sustainability?

The discussion focused on the phenomenon known as "greenhushing", and explored what's driving it, how the law is changing, and whether advertising can be part of the solution.

The greenhushing problem: why are 95% of ads silent on sustainability?

With brands encouraged to align with social, environmental and political causes, ad campaigns are often under a microscope. 

The panel opened by reflecting on the approach of the UK's Advertising Standards Authority to ads for heat pumps. While the aim of these ads is to reduce the public's reliance on gas, the ASA upheld one complaint due to concerns around the clarity of pricing for installation. Considering what this means for advertisers in the UK, Brinsley Dresden questioned whether applying the rules with excessive rigour can discourage the very messaging the government wants to encourage.

The numbers suggest this may well be the case. Matt Bourn, Director of Communications at The Advertising Association, referred to The Sustainable Behaviours Ad Tracker – a report created in partnership with Kantar to measure how often ads feature or mention sustainable behaviours across global markets and sectors (available here). In a clear indication of the impact 'greenhushing' has across the globe, he revealed 95% of ads contain no sustainability claims at all. Globally, only just under 5% feature related content such as heat pumps, wind farms, or recycling. So, if we have comprehensive codes and an effective self-regulatory system, why are we stuck at such a low figure? And if sustainability is the fastest-growing part of the economy, why isn't advertising keeping pace?

Litigation and activist pressure: the KLM case and beyond

The answer may be twofold: fear and ignorance. And while this sounds harsh, it is not meant as a criticism of brands working in a complex environment. Kelly Harris, Partner of Harris + co in Canada, noted that some clients in the food space see sustainability as a market share opportunity. However, she acknowledged the nervousness felt by brands trying to navigate advertising rules, especially in industries that haven't historically been green. In her experience, a lot of hesitance comes from limited engagement with the nuances of new laws. While established guidance exists, there seems to be a reluctance to digest and apply it.

Julika Wahlmann-Smith noted a similar nervousness in New Zealand. While the country positions itself as a clean and green nation, the regulator is yet to carry out significant enforcement action. Activist groups like Greenpeace and Lawyers for Climate Change have also been scrutinising claims closely. Similarly, in the UK, campaign groups like Ad Free Cities both challenge green claims and encourage people to vote for councillors who will ban advertising altogether.

Daniel Haije raised the very real risk of litigation, noting the Fossielvrij v KLM case in the Netherlands. A class action over the airline's "Fly Responsibly" campaign saw the court assess 19 green claims. While KLM pulled the ads, it could not escape the fundamental tension that air travel remains difficult to reconcile with sustainability and the court ruled that 15 of the 19 claims were misleading. This was the first greenwashing case in the Dutch civil courts, and it's caused a steep decline in sustainability messaging across campaigns.

How does a brand communicate fairly when its core product isn't sustainable? Matt suggested affected sectors think about what ads they do want to put out. Airlines, for example, may need full disclosure about where they are on the sustainability journey, and turn that transparency into a competitive factor.

Changes in law

A key alignment across the UK, Europe, Canada and New Zealand was a reluctance by lawmakers to prohibit misleading green claims altogether:

• In the UK, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 overhauled consumer law. While there was talk of adding misleading green claims to the list of banned practices, this did not yet materialise (although companies making misleading claims, green or not, may be targeted by the Competition and Markets Authority, who can now impose fines without going to court).
• In Canada, stricter legislation was proposed and then rescinded. Under the previous government, "internationally recognised methodology" was proposed as the substantiation standard, highlighting the need to align law and science. However, the political landscape has shifted – the influence of the Trump administration and broader economic pressures mean these aspirational measures have taken a back seat.
• In the EU, the proposed Green Claims Directive was shelved in June 2025. While the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive was introduced to bolster consumer laws and promote sustainability, Daniel noted that at national level, the directive's influence was limited.
• In New Zealand, the focus is on increasing fines and requiring a higher level of substantiation, rather than banning categories outright. 

Normalising sustainability

Should laws do more to ban green claims relating to high-carbon industries such as air travel or meat? Or would efforts be better focused on priming people for a more sustainable future? 

Matt said while three in four car ads promote EVs, this only translates to one in six purchases. However, this is not necessarily a negative – advertising is leading the way in normalising EVs.  He argued that if a business is allowed to operate, it should be allowed to communicate. 

The discussion ended on a more optimistic note, anchored around the Ad Net Zero initiative and its goal that by 2050, every ad should be made sustainably and promote a sustainable product, service, or behaviour.

But not every ad needs to make an explicit green claim. The idea is to normalise sustainability in the background and encourage it to become a natural part of living in the 21st century.

Matt put it well: the goal isn't to burden every campaign with a green claim, it's to make sure the direction of travel, across every sector, is towards sustainability.