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by Jean Cannon

The growing consumer concern about climate change and the increasing demand for “green” products has spawned a growing trend to “greenwash” business images.

More than half of Australian people will pay more for environmentally friendly products and services but they do want to know about their credentials before they buy. The problem is establishing that it is sustainable. Things that sound too good to be true, probably are. In this article you will learn about the three most common fake green claims and how to recognize what is truly green.

So what is “green”? It is about being aware of what we are using and even more importantly what we are wasting. It is about how big our environmental and carbon footprint is trying not to use more than our fair share. Australians are using very much more than our share; together with the USA and Canada we are the three greediest resource users per head of population anywhere in the world

We can help by reducing our own waste and by buying environmentally friendly products but we do need to look carefully at the marketing. False “green” advertising is “greenwash” and it is fraud.

Consumers can be alert and prevent themselves for falling for false and misleading green marketing. 1. Beware of images and logos with warm fluffy pictures like dolphins, frogs and pandas and vague names like eco, enviro and environmentally friendly. Almost all the time these claims are meaningless. Just ask if you are not sure of the relevance. 2. Certification and green ticks need to have a recognised number like ISO 14001 because a lot of them are just fraud. Some green ticks can be purchased on a website after filling in a questionnaire or are audited once with less than rigorous auditing. 3. Another thing to be wary of is when they quote a lot of scientific data because this is usually not relevant and is often intended to confuse and mislead you.

It is all very confusing and people just want to buy something with a green tick and feel comfortable that they are doing the right thing. In Australia authorities are clamping down on this. Hopefully soon the green ticks will all be meaningful.

We can feel safe with the international standard called ISO 14001, that certifies the work practices of a business and requires the business to prove to an external auditor that they do what they say they do and that they continually improve. This is the most reputable ‘green” certification because it is international and it has well trained and independent auditors who are also internationally qualified and recognised and who check every 6-12 months depending on the risk involved.. The business’s own performance can be continually improving.

ISO 14001 is the only internationally recognized green certification and it gives consumers confidence that the business considers all the aspects of it operation and supply chain and has adopted an ongoing self and external audit programs so that they continually improve.

Jean Cannon is an enviro-entrepreneur -both a scientist and a business person and has been both for over 20 years. So if you are confused by all the hype about global warming, climate change and the need to reduce our carbon emissions and you just want to look at the reality of what is happening and how it affects you in your business and your life, go to http://www.enviroaction.com.au.