Your Environmental Guide to Environmental Claims

Understanding green labelling

As companies expand their ‘green’ product range, consumers are faced with a barrage of environmental terms, symbols and labels, which can overwhelm even the most environmentally conscious consumer.  In advertising products, companies use a range of interpretations of the terms ‘sustainable’, ‘environmentally friendly’ or ‘green’ and it can be quite difficult to differentiate between those that are genuine and those that are simply “green-wash”.  Spurious claims can undermine the efforts of those companies that are making a genuine concerted effort to improve the sustainability of their products, and can also damage the reputation of green products as a whole.

As companies expand their ‘green’ product range, consumers are faced with a barrage of environmental terms, symbols and labels, which can overwhelm even the most environmentally conscious consumer.

The purpose of the green label is to communicate information about the environmental benefits of a product or service to the customer. The concept is straightforward but becomes complicated by the range of environmental issues addressed, the number of products in the market place and the number of labelling schemes that have been established. Labels can cover issues such as the choice of raw materials, energy and chemical use in manufacture, the amount of packaging or waste management. Some schemes address not only environmental impacts but also ethical, social or agricultural issues.

Is environmental labelling a PR gimmick?

A common perception of environmental labelling is that it is all a marketing gimmick.  Therefore caution is required when purchasing products and it is good practice to establish criteria for the purchasing of sustainable, environmentally friendly or ‘green’ products and enforce these criteria with your purchasing teams.  The green market is seen by some organisations as simply an opportunity to ‘cash in’.

Be wary of vague claims such as ‘safe for the environment’, ‘environmentally friendly’, or ‘ozone friendly’ which are meaningless, unless backed up by evidence. Many companies use ambiguous terms in an attempt to appear green, whilst not actually making any changes, this practice is referred to as ‘greenwashing’.

Spurious claims can undermine the efforts of those companies that are making a genuine concerted effort to improve the sustainability of their products, and can also damage the reputation of green products as a whole.

Labelling schemes: are these credible?

Many of the existing labelling schemes are voluntary. There are several assurance schemes that require demanding standards to be met, resulting in a high level of consumer confidence.  Those backed by consumer and non-governmental organisations can also be an indication of credibility, for example The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) mark on wood and paper products. There are also labelling schemes that are required by law, e.g. energy efficiency ratings on selected household products.  These are based on EU standards, and provide more detailed data therefore allowing comparisons to be made.

Several key sectors lack widely recognised labelling schemes. In response to environmental concerns about these sectors new labelling and certification initiatives will continue to be developed, potentially adding to the confusion at least in the short term. Climate change is an area where there is much activity; DEFRA, British Standards Institute (BSI) and the Carbon Trust are working together to create a standardised method of measuring embedded greenhouse gas emissions and there is call for a climate change initiative to certify carbon offsetting projects.

In an effort to cut down on fraudulent claims, the UK Government released the Green Claims Code in 1998. This Code sets standard information which companies must provide about the environmental impacts of consumer products.  Businesses follow the Code and use guidance from the international standard, ISO 14021  in an effort to demonstate that they are responsible. Where a claim is suspected to be false or misleading, even after communication with the retailer or manufacturer, the issue can be taken up with the trading standards authority. The Trades Descriptions Act makes it a criminal offence for traders to put a misleading trade description on their goods.

The debate continues concerning the best way to present environmental information on products.  For the time being, voluntary, environmental labelling will remain the dominant method of communicating ‘green’ issues.  Both businesses and consumers need to be increasingly knowledgeable and about a range of environmental claims to ensure they make an informed choice.  Best practice remains to favour products with recognised, established logos which are well regulated and endorsed by third party organisations.  For more information on some of the environmental labelling schemes see the understanding environmental labels and terms page.

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