Today, most people around the world understand what is the environment, what is happening to the environment, how increasing industrialization is degrading the environment, how urbanization is changing the natural environment, and what environmental challenges, we are facing in 2023. All because of the mass media, environmental awareness programs, and witnessing the environmental consequences in the form of disasters and Climate change. Since People are aware of environmental problems, they are more concerned about environmental stability and they want solutions to these environmental problems. They want to make the earth livable and pollution-free home and for that purpose, mindful people have already taken a stand and started to make the environment better by individually employing minor changes in their daily lives. The concept of the 4 R’s reduce, reuse, recycle, and refuse is very much admired among them but then with the escalation of environmental awareness and concern for the better future of this planet, people need something more than the 4 R’s or sustainable use of resources and this is where eco-friendly or green technology concept thrived.
Green technology supremacy
Green technology or Environmentally friendly products have gained a lot of fame and recognition among professionals and common people. The people who are unaware of the word green technology understand the word environmentally friendly products. There is no disagreement that people appreciate the manufacturing of eco-friendly products and are encouraging green technology concepts, there are people who are working legitimately on the fair production of environmentally friendly products and who are genuinely working on green technology innovations but there is also a darker side of this positive approach and we will call that the green technology scam or eco-friendly frauds.
Undoubtedly green technology initiatives are genuine and focused on bringing environmental stability and benefits but some mugger individuals, entrepreneurs, and companies are exploiting the word green technology for their unlawful returns. In other words, they are selling their product and/or services in the name of green technology. In this blog, we will try to discuss the concept of green technology scams and how can we identify and avoid such scams and discourage, and unveil these types of fraudulent schemes.
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Types of green technology scams
Replica environmentally friendly products
This includes environmentally friendly products which are sub-standard and cheap copies of original ones. For example solar panels, electric vehicles, or energy-efficient appliances like microwave ovens, refrigerators, and so on. Scammers make a fake of the original one and sell it by placing the tag of eco-friendly product but in actuality, there is a huge possibility that these are harming the environment more than the conventional products since cost cutting in manufacturing these things, they want to make more profits so they use cheaper things, and cheaper technology which produce more hazardous inattentive waste.
Investment frauds
In this type of scam, some thugs or scammers invite innocent people and lure them into investing in some so-called green technology products that either do not exist entirely or are counterfeit. They don’t intend to promote any green technology ventures at all but just under the name of green technology they are scamming people and looting them.
Carbon credit scams
Carbon credit incentive is used to motivate companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and Carbon dioxide emissions but sometimes people get scammed by some miscreants who are trying to sell carbon credits in actuality these do not exist or they don’t have actual Carbon credits and victims buy the fake Carbon credits and thus contributes in the pollution.
Exploitive and deceptive marketing
Cheat companies make conventional products which are very normal products that you see in the markets but they will try to market them as eco-friendly products. For example degradable plastic bags. They will market them with slogans like “Switch to decomposable plastic bags which will decompose in the environment naturally” and in this way, you just buy the plastic bags but in reality, they don’t decompose just get broken down into fine particles of plastic called microplastics. They will sell normal clothing by saying “environmentally friendly clothing or Green clothing” and have manufactured these with good technology and recycled material but that’s not the case, that’s all fabrication.
How can you spot the fraud of green technology?
Being a responsible and mindful citizen, you must save yourself, your family, and other people from such scams, and for that purpose, you should be vigilant and curious. Whenever you hear words like environmentally friendly product, green technology initiatives sustainable technology, etc. You should adopt the following ways to find out the truth and expose those scammers.
Don’t fall for high returns
Whenever the investments are low and the profit of that investment is so huge step back because when there is a good return, there always will be higher risk. There is no safe investment be it green technology or any other business investment. Always go for realistic and moderate returns which are the basic rule of investment.
Do your research
Before buying any environmentally friendly product or service, research it. Go to their website or their social media pages to verify the companies’ credentials and check out the reviews. For more digging, you can search reviews on YouTube videos by just writing the name of that company or name of that product plus the word scam with that name and search on Google or YouTube, you will find more easily and accurately with the right keyword combination search.
Be curious
Whenever someone approaches you to buy any Environmentally friendly products or try to convince you to invest in their green technology ventures, ask every possible question and see if they are reluctant to answer all of those or are hiding the full information. If the company is legitimate it will share every possible and sharable detail with its potential consumers, clients, or investors.
Check out certification
Any good and legal green technology company will have some kind of third-party certificates and consumer-friendly certificates. For example in Pakistan, manufacturers are legally obliged to show an environmental agency PAK-EPA certification, ISO 14001 certification, Pakistan standard and quality control authority PSQCA certificates, etc.
Contact professionals
If you are devoted to buying some environmental products or want to know the status of those products or looking into some investment opportunities in green technology, first consult some professionals who can guide you about the products or the company. Always seek advice from the environmental expert, environmental advisors, and/or legal advisors
Conclusion
Green technology has brought the revolution in this era of industrialization. With the growing population and increasing need for luxurious products, people need to use all of the products but people are concerned about the environment. Green technology has replaced those more environmentally polluting products so people now use those products easily in a sustainable manner (Read: Eco-friendly solutions) and even if there are frauds in the name of eco-friendly products, there is no way that we should stop using green technology. It’s one of the best solutions that can contribute to Environmental sustainability and environmental benefits. However, consumers should be vigilant and save themselves and our people from falling into the traps of fake environmentally friendly products. We have to do our thorough research on the products and schemes before showing interest and trying to unveil those green scammers who are threatening the most effective solution of sustainability and are undermining the genuine efforts of the people who are genuinely manufacturing these kinds of green products and want to protect the earth.
