This post has been sitting as a draft for a while now, so I figure its not getting any better sitting and gathering dust.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to attend a CMA Ottawa presentation on The Six Sins of Greenwashing with TerraChoice’s President and CEO, Scott McDougall. Scott discussed the research his firm did behind the usage and recognition of misleading eco-marketing practices, the results of which they summarized into what they call “The Six Sins of Greenwashing“. They surveyed six category-leading big box stores and identified 1,018 consumer products bearing 1,753 environmental claims. Of those 1,018 products, all but one made claims that were demonstrably false or that risked misleading intended audiences.

Incidentally, TerraChoice also does product validation for the EcoLogo certification program, so if you’re interested in EcoLogo certification, get in touch with them. Onward.
The “Six Sins of Greenwashing” are ordered by the frequency that they were found to have appeared in the marketplace sample.

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade Off
   This “sin” was found to have been the most common, whereby the marketing would focus on only one or two environmental issues, and completely ignore.
   Bottomline: Include all of the environmental impacts of a product even if they are negative impacts. Consumers will find out if you’re trying to hide something.
2. Sin of No Proof
   Not providing evidence of the environmental claims the product makes.
   Bottomline: Backup environmental claims with proof on the packaging or on your website or with respected certifications such as EcoLogo.
3. Sin of Vagueness
   Products that make vague claims like “environmentally-friendly” - what does that even mean? That it doesn’t harm the environment….very much?
   Bottomline: Include details of all environmental impacts of the product from the sourcing of materials, to the manufacturing processes, to the use, and eventual disposal of the product.
4. Sin of Irrelevance
   Advertising environmental claims that are irrelevant. Claims like “No CFCs!” are irrelevant when CFCs were banned 30 years ago.
   Bottomline: If your product meets all environmental standards as its competitor products, emphasizing these claims only causes marketplace confusion. You don’t want to build a consumer relationship based on misleading a consumer.
5. Sin of Fibbing
   Outright false claims. Can the manufacturer back up certified organic or green claims?
   Bottomline:This one may sound obvious, but if you’re going to claim you’re certified organic or meet standards, make sure you actually are, and can backup the claim with a listing on the certification body’s website.
6. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils
   A claim that tries to make a product seem “green” that is basically “ungreen”. One example Scott mentioned was “organic tobacco” - is it really a green product?
   Bottomline: Not all products can be green. If you’re selling something that is intrinsically not green, like tobacco, you’re sending mixed messages by claiming that it’s green. “It’s 100% organic tobacco…. and its still going to give you lung cancer”.

On a somewhat related tangent, I also couldn’t agree more on Seth’s thoughts that green claims need to include numbers, even if they are imperfect numbers. I’d go further into 4 separate numbers that could be totalled to give an overall “EcoScore” for each product’s lifecycle:

1. Source Score: A number representing the materials/ingredients/harvesting methods used, e.g. sourced from sustainable bamboo forests;
2. Creation Score: A number that scores the environmental impact of the manufacturing process, e.g. impact of chemicals, energy used in production;
3. Use Score: A number that scores the impact of the regular use of the product, e.g. chemicals, or C02 released over regular use;
4. Disposal Score: A number with scores the impact of the disposal of the product - products with manufacturer-run recycling and disposal programs would score higher.

Product packag would include individual numbers for each stage of the product’s lifecycle along with a total score. I’ll touch more on this EcoScore idea in a future post. In the meantime, what are your thoughts? I think consumers are asking for this sort of information, and its high time we give it to them in an accessible form.

You can also read more on TerraChoice’s Six Sins of Greenwashing at www.terrachoice.com.