Time to Get the Green Guides Right
Your Opportunity to Speak Up For a More "Sustainable" Future
“Recyclable.” “Recycled content.” “Compostable.” “Degradable.” “Ozone safe.”
These environmental (by)standards decorate the packaging and advertisements of many of the products we use regularly. You may glaze over them or filter them out as “lip service,” but interestingly over 60% of U.S. consumers are actually willing to not only pay, but pay more, for sustainable products.
Whether or not they impact your decision to buy, you should know that each of the above terms has a relatively specific meaning, laid out by the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, or “Green Guides” for shorthand.
This toolkit was created to brace marketers against making deceptive environmental claims, but since its last update in 2012 it is in desperate need of modernization and improvement.
Right now, the FTC is accepting public comments about the efficiency, costs, benefits, and regulatory impact of the Green Guides, which will help determine whether they should be retained, modified, or rescinded. The deadline for making your contribution is April 24, 2023.
If you are an impassioned consumer; transparent marketer; business owner (particularly small business owner); regulatory specialist; expert on sustainability, energy, or waste; or anyone interested in contributing to this critical conversation, this article will provide you with baseline information on the Green Guides and suggestions on how you can make your voice heard.
What are the Green Guides?
The Green Guides were originally issued in 1992 and subsequently revised in 1996, 1998, and 2012. As 2023 has come to pass, the FTC started the process of editing this potentially revolutionary resource, in line with their imperative to review their policies at least once every decade.
Unfortunately, these guidelines are unenforceable by law, at least directly. Instead, they supplement the FTC Act Section 5, which defines generally unfair or deceptive marketing practices, in the context of environmental language.
As I’m sure you captured from the vivacious video above, the Guides offer general best practices for green marketing and call out a number of terms, listed above, to “1) explain how reasonable consumers likely interpret [them]; 2) describe the basic elements necessary to substantiate [them]; and 3) present options for qualifications to avoid deception.” The end goal of all this is to encourage honest, evidence-backed marketing and communications around a company or product’s environmental impact.
(How) Do the Green Guides Combat Greenwashing?
The Green Guides act as a source of legal truth to help marketers avoid misleading environmental claims (a.k.a., greenwashing), albeit a relatively latent one. In them, the FTC recommends fortifying statements with explicit qualifications and disclosures; distinctions between product, packaging, and service benefits; clear comparative claims; and avoiding exaggeration of environmental attributes. All of these hinge on the idea of justifying advertisements with “competent and reliable scientific evidence.”
In short, if you can’t prove it, lose it.
Unfortunately, because the Green Guides are not strictly enforced, these ambitions are largely unfulfilled. For instance, during COP26 negotiations, 16 of the world’s most polluting companies paid for some 1,700 climate misinformation ads, receiving up to 150 million impressions.
To strengthen these standards in 2023, proposed changes include guidance around umbrella terms like “sustainable” and “organic” (for non-agricultural products) in marketing materials, as well as updates to carbon offset and climate change language, claims related to energy use and energy efficiency, and previously-identified terms.
FTC Chairperson Lina M. Khan stresses the importance of maintaining the Guides, stating:
“That’s why it’s so important for companies making these claims to tell the truth. If they don’t, it distorts the market for environmentally friendly products. It puts honest companies, who bear the costs of green business practices, at a competitive disadvantage. And it harms consumers who want to make conscientious decisions about what products to buy and what businesses to support.”
Make Your Mark
Since the most recent revisions in 2012, a slew of social, commercial, technological, legal, and political events have completely transformed the way we communicate sustainability claims and sustainability science. Just think: the Paris Accords, pandemic, and political rollercoaster from Trump’s fake news to Biden’s renewable energy investments all proceeded the last update. One of the public comment prompts explicitly invites input as to how events like these might influence environmental marketing standards and improvements that can be made to the Guides.
Some of the other suggested prompts include:
Is there a continuing need for the Guides?
Please provide any evidence that has become available since 2012 concerning consumer interest in particular environmental issues.
What modifications, if any, should be made to the Guides to account for changes in relevant technology or economic conditions?
Are there international laws, regulations, or standards with respect to environmental marketing claims the Commission should consider as it reviews the Guides?
Is there any consumer research available regarding consumer perception of climate change-related claims such as “net zero,” “carbon neutral,” “low carbon,” or “carbon negative”?
Should the Commission consider adding guidance on energy use or efficiency claims for home-related products, electric vehicles, or other products?
Over 1000 comments have been submitted by stakeholders of all stripes, and that number is growing dramatically day by day. Add your voice to this roster by clicking the “Submit a Formal Comment” button at the top of this page. For the sake of commission members deliberating this issue, try to make your response as specific and, in the spirit of the Guides themselves, evidence-backed as possible.
My next article will be a copy of my submission to the FTC, to hopefully inspire you to contribute to this policymaking process. The best way we can effect change together is to speak up for the issues in this world we care most about, and as a reader of this article and a follower of mine, I sincerely hope a sustainable future is one of those things for you.
P.S. As a sustainability buff, I know that this space is somewhat siloed and constantly evolving. Being said, I welcome your fact-checking and feedback! Working together to improve our collective understanding of sustainability is the goal of my page!
P.P.S. The views in this article are my personal perspectives and do not necessarily reflect the view of my employer or any other person or entity.
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