Making green labels stick

2008-10-14

Energy efficient. Certified organic. 100% natural. Environmentally friendly. These and many other "green" claims now appear on the packaging of items from cleaning supplies to health and beauty products. But should consumers believe them?

TerraChoice Environmental Marketing believes people shouldn't necessarily put their faith in these green claims. Last year, the environmental marketing firm randomly surveyed six big-box stores about common consumer products ranging from toothpaste to printers. It discovered that many—99 per cent of 1,018 consumer products bearing 1,753 environmental claims—were guilty of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service, a practice TerraChoice calls 'greenwashing.'

With studies like the one conducted by TerraChoice revealing such high numbers of companies guilty of greenwashing, more had to be done. To that end, the Competition Bureau of Canada partnered with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) to develop a best practices guide which makes the information easily accessible to businesses and consumers.

"The guidelines were developed to provide business with tools on how they can comply with the Competition Act when doing marketing and advertising their green products and services," says Pamela Wong, a spokesperson for the Competition Bureau of Canada. "In turn, we hope that will provide consumers with greater assurances on the claims about products out there."

The guidelines are based on CSA's 2000 adoption (CAN/CSA-ISO 14021) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)’s standard for environmental labelling (ISO 14021), a standard developed with the intention of providing an international harmonization of widely used self-declared environmental claims.

The Environmental Claims: A Guide for Industry and Advertisers, focuses primarily on self-declared environmental claims that are made by manufacturers, importers, distributors, or any person who promotes a product/service or business interest that is likely to benefit from the product’s environmental claims.

"These claims are usually based on a single attribute, such as a manufacturer’s claim that a product is "biodegradable," without taking into account the environmental impact of a product’s entire life cycle, and without independent verification or certification by a third party," says Ahmad Husseini, manager of standards development at CSA. "However, these claims must be verifiable, accurate, meaningful, and reliable if consumers are to understand the value of the environmental information they represent, such as their ability to protect the environment."

Based on stakeholder and public feedback, the guide has been updated from previous versions to include new and relevant examples as well as interpretive language that better reflects the Canadian marketplace. The guide does not address all environmental claims in use today, but does discuss a number of commonly used claims and practices, and sets the rules for such claims.

Mark Girvan, manager of the Arbour Environmental Shoppe in Ottawa, feels the guide is very thorough in scope though he does have one concern.

"Some of the elements may be difficult to implement," says Girvan, giving as an example a business’s need to substantiate a claim on a label. "There may not be enough room and to have a fallback to put a toll-free number might not work if a company isn’t big enough to have a toll-free number. I just see some implementation problems."

Another question raised by Girvan is who will be enforcing the guide. "It doesn’t discuss procedures, like what staff from whom would be handling it."

According to Wong, enforcement of misleading advertising falls under the Competition Bureau’s responsibilities. As part of its mandate, the Bureau enforces the false and misleading provisions of the Competition Act and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. Environmental claims, like all other marketing claims, are subject to these laws, and must be verifiable with supporting data that is accurate and readily available to law enforcement agencies, such as the Bureau, upon request.

Wong points out the guidelines are just that—guidelines. "They are not law, but they will help businesses to avoid making misleading claims and comply with the laws enforced by the Bureau," she explains.

This education phase will see the Competition Bureau and the CSA set up information sessions over the next year for businesses, business groups and associations across Canada. Businesses will have one year to comply before enforcement begins.

"Those making claims of conformity with the standard are required to consider the impact of the product or service on the environment and be able to support the claim with verifiable data," says Husseini. "If the principles and specific requirements of CAN/CSA-ISO 14021 as recommended in this guide are complied with, it is unlikely that environmental claims used in the promotion of a product/service or business interest would raise concerns under the statutes administered by the Competition Bureau. The release of this guideline is an important milestone for Canada."

Overall, Girvan is optimistic about the guide and its impact on his business.

"The guide is very, very good," he says. "There will be a time impact as we will have to scan packages for consistency since almost everything we sell has a claim on it, but the ends will justify the means; it will not be an undue burden."

He adds that the guidelines will make stores more aware of their own signage as well. "It will certainly have an impact, but it will be positive."

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This article first appeared in Volume 35 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2008.  The information it contains was accurate at the time of publication but has not been updated or revised since, and may not reflect the latest updates on the topic.  If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

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