(NewsNation) — Scientists are warning the public to be wary of fake green credentials from organizations that are actually threatening the ecosystem.
"We depend on nature. We can't actually do without it," University of Queensland’s Professor Martine Maron said during an interview with NewsNation. "It's our life support system. Its ability to provide all the things we depend on: Clean water, food, and climate regulation ... is being degraded."
Maron's research, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, has identified how "greenwashing" threatens our chances of having a "nature positive" world where environmental decline stops entirely and biodiversity outcomes improve.
Greenwashing is a deceptive marketing practice by an organization to present an environmentally responsible public image.
"The problem arises when those claims aren't entirely honest, or when they overstate the environmental benefits of the action. ... It's really, really hard for consumers to understand the difference," Maron said.
Maron's new research points to three ways to ensure a "net-zero" emissions goal is actually attainable.
Living in a "nature positive" world is a "really ambitious vision," but it's "essential" to stopping the world's current mass extinction event, Maron said. "Nature positive is really only something that all of society can achieve collectively."
It starts with making sure that any proposal that might damage nature follows the “mitigation hierarchy”.
Maron said it's not enough to slow the damage already done on Earth; it’s time to reverse it.
"We need to repair and restore the ecosystems that we've damaged so they can continue to supply what we call ecosystem services, to help humanity, and also, to support all life on the planet," Maron said. "There are no shortcuts, we really need to stop destroying components of nature that are irreplaceable."
Countries around the world are starting to back the concept, Maron said.
More than 90 world leaders have signed on to the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature calling for a nature-positive future by 2030.
Additionally, Wall Street's top regulator Wednesday adopted a new rule cracking down on greenwashing.
The changes to the two-decades-old Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) "Name Rule" requires that 80% of a fund's portfolio matches the asset advertised by its name.
It takes aim at a boom in funds that have tried to exploit investor interest in environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investing with names that do not accurately reflect its investments or strategies.
Reuters contributed to this report.