Shortly after Terrachoice came out with the Six Sins of Greenwashing report in November, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it would be reviewing its “Green Guides” a year earlier than planned. If you’re not familiar with the Green Guides, they were developed by the FTC to provide guidelines for environmental marketing. They were due to be reviewed in 2009, but so much has changed since 1998 (the last time the guides were reviewed) that the FTC has decided to start its regulatory review this coming January.

There are several reasons to update the Green Guides. First, new claims are being made with regard to issues like renewable energy and carbon offsets that the current version of the guides does not address. Second, the growing enthusiasm for green marketing has led to a significant increase in greenwashing. With new guidelines in place, the FTC can help marketers be more precise with their eco-friendly claims.

The EcoLogo Program and Terrachoice will be actively involved in the FTC review, and will use the principles behind the Six Sins of Greenwashing report to provide recommendations to the regulatory agency. Concepts like the “Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off” are highly relevant to the issue of ongoing uncertainty around environmental marketing claims. If we can help the FTC address these concepts, it will go a long way towards helping consumers make genuinely greener purchasing decisions.

Posted by Mari in Marketing