Is there anything more annoying than walking into a hotel room and seeing the signs to “Save the Environment” by not having the hotel wash your dirty towels? Why should you feel guilty about wanting clean towels after paying high prices for the privilege of staying at their establishment? This was the very situation that led to an essay in 1986 in which the term greenwashing was used for the first time.
corporate responsibility
Carbon offsets seem like an ideal corporate solution. Trade your excess carbon for some organization producing "too little" carbon and balance the books. If only nature used double-entry book-keeping. As this reprint from The Conversation points out, "Satellites detect no real climate benefit from 10 years of forest carbon offsets in California."
In the face of unethical behavior, we treat corporations differently than we treat individuals. Corporate crisis managers, using our cognitive biases, know how to deflect blame.