Greenpeace has coined a term that is increasingly important in the green economy - "greenwashing."

Essentially, greenwashing is the common practice of companies to play up any and every conceivable green benefit or sustainable aspect of their products or services, usually used to refer to inappropriate green claims.

When more and more people are preparing to lay large sums of money on the line for products and services that are sustainable, healthier, and better for the environment, it may be inevitable that marketers will be tempted to get on the bandwagon, even if their products or their company practices do not support their claims.

Incidents of blatant greenwashing are perhaps most prevalent in the green building industry. Green building, by definition, involves large sums of money expended by people who may not be that well versed in the building trades. The average homeowner may be apt to accept marketing literature or salesperson boasting about the sustainable aspects of a product and may not have the technical background to know what questions to ask in fully evaluating marketing claims.

Though greenwashing may be more common in the building trades, it is not hard to find examples in any number of other market areas.

Blatant Greenwashing:
Recently I heard the most blatant example of unsupported greenwashing in a local radio ad campaign. Over the course of a couple of weeks, a local car dealership ran a state-wide campaign touting the strong green aspects and fuel efficiency of their product.

The ads featured a local minor celebrity, a former Olympic athlete, talking about the phenomenal fuel efficiency and utility of the product line of the dealership. She sounded very convincing and it would have been a good commercial had it been for any other product.

The product being sold? Would you believe Chevy Suburban SUVs?

The series of ads went on and on about how the dealership believed in saving the customer's money through lower fuel costs and saving the environment through the "unbelievably efficient" fuel efficiency of the Suburban. "The Suburban gets over 20 mpg highway!" the Olympian exclaimed.


First of all, I would be amazed if a Suburban could get 20 mpg empty, rolling downhill and with a tailwind. Secondly, even if the Suburban could somehow attain the claimed level of efficiency, positioning 20 mpg as a respectable level of fuel economy is quite a stretch.

Clearly, this is was an example of greenwashing. I have to assume that the advertising tactic was not successful since the series of ads ended suddenly and has not been repeated. If the number of unsold SUVs in the dealership parking lot is any indicator, I'd say that the attempt was probably a waste of money.

Ways to guard against greenwashing as a consumer:

• Ask questions.
• Never take company propaganda as gospel.
• Ask for substantiation of claims.
• Ask how numbers or statistics were collected.
• Ask for independent certification or testing data.
• Look for other consumers who have purchased or used a product and ask them about their experience.
• Search for independent reviews or user experiences for a product on line. If a product is either performing very well or very poorly, chances are that it is being talked about somewhere on the internet.
• Become informed! If you are choosing a high efficiency furnace, learn about your options from independent sources. Information has never been easier to attain.

• Make sustainability a centerpiece of your organization. To ensure that you are truly a green company,  a sustainability statement should be included in your business plan and should be a factor in guiding your  business decisions.
• Use Triple Bottom Line accounting to run and evaluate your business performance. Where traditional accounting methods have a single bottom line (profits), the triple bottom line includes not only monetary profit, but also social responsibility and environmental stewardship into the profit equation.
• Back up your claims. If you are making green claims about a product, have sound reason and data to back you up.
• Seek independent certification when appropriate. Have an organic product? Go through the certification process. Have a green building product line? Make sure you adhere to US Green Building Council (USGBC) standards and seek Greenseal of Greenguard certification.
• Avoid vague claims of green or sustainable product aspects. Substantiate what you are saying.
• If your product is obviously not green, don't even try to claim otherwise! Fibbing and stretching the truth to make a harmful product sound green will, at best, waste money. At worst, lying to your potential buyers will mean that any future relationship will be in peril. Even when your business does do the right thing, you may have to overcome prior breaches in confidence.