Greenhushing: Why Silence Can Undermine Trust

With a new Green Claim Directive saying you'll need to provide evidence when you call your destination green, sustainable, eco-friendly,… some destinations might go quiet. This behaviour has a name: greenhushing. As the white paper explains, "Integrity should not lead to invisibility."

Greenhushing stems from caution—fear of backlash, of being caught out. Yet this silence creates its own risk: it erases the work of the sincere while amplifying the shallow promises of others.

When those who act responsibly stop communicating, public trust begins to shift toward the loudest voice rather than the most accountable actor. The paper notes that this creates "a system where only those who can afford time and budget to be visible get to be recognized."

The solution isn't louder slogans, but smarter stories. As Durband clarifies, "What really works in marketing sustainability is talking about specific elements... When you talk about locally sourced food... that resonates."

If sustainability is real, it deserves to be seen—clearly, humbly, and in human terms.

Place Generation captured their reflections in a whitepaper: The Score is Not the Story, produced by CityDNA in partnership with Simpleview/Granicus to share with other cities.