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The FTC has set out three criteria for legitimate advertising claims that seems to address the problems found in the marketplace. Substantiation, meaning that claims are based upon relieable evidence to support such claims. Specificity and Clarity, wherein broad and ambiguous advertising has no sure reference point. Overstatements, where claims may represent no real value over the competition. The fact that the FTC has taken notice of the puffery of Green advertising set the tone for this discussion on Green certification which falls broadly in the arena of advertising. Certification is the latest integrity test before every kind of business at this time. We must all wonder whether business will stand or dodge the question that has huge implications to our world.
The trend of environmental compliance has created a void in the business world that many firms are eager to fill. The problem is made worse because there are plenty of "instant certifications" that work very hard to appear as good, if not better, than the legitimate ones. It is very simple to create a website, organize content, buy Google adwords, and promote hard to make an empty certification program seem like a national program.
Green-wash (gren'wosh') - verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.
Compounding the problem of Green certifications is the underlying issue of ethical business practices and a willingness to participate in a subtle public deception. Rather than establishing a standard of credibility, these shallow certifications are fundamentally driven to collect money and to provide an "Easy Green" certification that has no verification processes. The vast number of Green business certifications almost always defaults to the "voluntary compliance" method of qualification that cannot be verified.
As the appetite for Green products and services grows, the eagerness to capitalize on this market increases as well. David Suzuki says it this way, "Through our loss of a worldview, our devotion to consumerism and our move into the cities and away from nature, we have lost our connection to the rest of the living planet." If there is a disconnect in the ethical foundations as business overreaches to capture the market, we have lost the essential trust of the public, and have become nearly entirely dependent on branding, marketing, and saturation despite the truth. The hollowness of this marketing attitude is a cancer, not a cure.
TerraChoice has named the "Six Deadly Sins of Greenwashing™," which points a bright light on the penchant that American businesses have for the quick-fix mentality toward Green compliance. Of the six deadly sins, it seems that the "Sin of Fibbing" is unfortunately the choice of many unwitting business people. While the TerraChoice study dealt primarily with Green products found on the shelves of stores, these products did not invent themselves. There were marketing and corporate decisions that seemed to have been made in haste rather than with full appreciation of the ethical standards that were being bent or broken.
Companies everywhere see a growing Green market that provides the ubiquitous motivator for pushing Green-labeled products to meet that perceived market need. It is obvious that the interest in Green products happened prior to any clear standard for Green compliance. Under this cloud of ambiguity, businesses were free to incorporate Green claims that were either credible or less-than credible.
To our latent embarrassment, Greenwashing has become the most popular form of Green business certification. The ability to lay claim to the title of a Green business was up for grabs in the early days of Green awareness. It was easy for the weakest Green business claim to rival the most impressive claims for a Green business, because there was no broad-based standard for a Green business that has captured the marketplace.
"Going Green" most often means that a token effort is made and the Green appointment comes by self-acclamation. "Green" was amorphous and ill-defined, allowing the best and the worst to borrow the term at will.
A survey of the Green business certification labels reveals hundreds of Green business certifications that require only a fee and voluntary compliance. Websites like U.S. Green Business Certification overtly declare a fee schedule, a downloadable self-audit, and the issuance of a Green business certification with logo. The Green Business Bureau lists a fee schedule, offers a variety of self-assessment "audits," and provides their certification without any validation. Green Business Alliance offers its trademark logo for a fee and a signed "Promise" to Green the business per the outline provided.
"Any environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information, or by a reliable third-party certification." TerraChoice on the "Sin of Fibbing"
These and other examples come back to fundamental credibility issues. The overt and blatant use of the word "audit" illustrates the purposeful deceptions found in many "Easy
Green" website certifications. For example, when you file your taxes, this is a form of "self assessment" using the criteria provided. The IRS knows full well that these voluntary assessments are nearly meaningless, unless the real potential of an audit by an authority is the real measure of compliance. If people will cheat on something as serious as their taxes, they will certainly cheat on something as non-consequential as a Green certification.
An audit is not the same as a self-assessment, yet this misrepresentation is the singular proof of these Green certifications. It is an oxymoron to think that a business can conduct an audit on itself. We may as well sell "Round Squares" or "Dry Water." There is a failure of credibility at the very beginning when the terms used are inherently deceptive.
Congressman JC Watts has said,
“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.”
The purpose for these deceptive practices is not merely the ability to post a Green business logo in the building or on the website. These certifications are not about self-satisfaction or personal achievement. These certifications and representative logos are clearly meant for public consumption. They convey to the public something of value since the obvious perception is that an environmentally-compliant company is making the world a better place and offering a product that might ease the strain on our over-stressed resources. The public trust is not well served by a "smoke and mirrors" approach that makes a reflection appear as the real thing.
The obvious desire to take an unaudited program and falsely declare it audited, compliant, and worthy is clearly part of the deceptive elements of Greenwashing. The sin of fibbing is rampant in American Green businesses because it is so readily available. Of course, these companies hope that no one challenges the credential of a well-designed logo and a professionally done website with a measure of due diligence.
Montaigne must have had greenwashing in mind when he wrote (over four hundred years ago):
“They who in my time have attempted to correct the manners of the world by new opinions, reform seeming vices; but the essential vices they leave as they were, if indeed they do not augment them, and augmentation is therein to be feared; we defer all other well doing upon the account of these external
reformations, of less cost and greater show, and thereby expiate good cheap, for the other natural, consubstantial, and intestine vices.”
(from Michel de Montaigne’s Selected Essays, “Of Repentance”, translated by Charles Cotton and published by Borders Classics)
Fiji water is transported 5,434 miles to a LEED facility in Los Angeles before this unique water is placed into plastic bottles and shipped thousands of miles to a store near you. The Boston Globe points out the that the Chevy Tahoe was recently named the "Green Car of the Year," but gets only 20 miles per gallon. A Brazilian company bulldozed "thousands of hectares of tribal forest," but boasted that they were creating a 'nature reserve' in a ploy to spin the negative news about their efforts." All of these revelations are bound to create a backlash toward these "Easy Green" businesses, even though these companies claim to be "making an effort." We all should remember the destination of the road that is paved with "good intentions."
Credible Green companies are impacted as well. After all, how can customers tell the real Green
companies from the Green pretenders? To the otherwise occupied customer, they all look alike, and there simply isn't enough time to investigate the plethora of certifications in the market. This is exactly the best feature of "Easy Green" certifications. Harried consumers will hopefully "never find out" that the Green logo on the business door was bought over the Internet with less scrutiny than a porn site requires.
| By R. Michael Richmond |
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R. Michael Richmond, is the Director of Development for the Green Business League (http://www.greenbusinessleague.com/) and an avid proponent of Green and sustainable business programs.The Green Business League offers a national certification for Green business that has been broadly received as a leading standard for environmental compliance.
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