AV俱乐部

Call it the little green lie. So many companies are stretching the eco-truth that it鈥檚 making difficult for consumers to sort out claims like 鈥渁ll-natural,鈥� 鈥渆nvironmentally friendly鈥� and 鈥渘ontoxic.鈥�

So TerraChoice Environmental Marketing looked into the matter. It surveyed more than 1,000 common consumer products ranging from toothpaste to caulking to printers to shampoo, and investigated the claims on their labels.

The company鈥檚 findings are shocking: the claims on 99 per cent of the products turned out to be 鈥済reenwash.鈥�

鈥淭here is a lot of consumer confusion around green claims, but there鈥檚 a lot of money to be made by claiming your products are green so that鈥檚 why companies do it,鈥� says Melissa Peneycad, a consultant with the Ottawa-based company.

Ecoprise What: Ecoprise 2008, a sustainable business conference When: Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29 Where: Hosted by the Faculty of Management鈥檚 Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship and Eco-Efficiency Centre at the Rowe Management Building What: Sessions include: 鈥淢ission Zero,鈥� 鈥淜eeping the Lights On 鈥� Clean Energy for the 21st Century,鈥澛� 鈥淕rowing Smart 鈥� Growing Green鈥� and 鈥淪ocially Responsible Investing.鈥� Melissa Peneycad from TerraChoice Environmental Marketing will talk about the 鈥淪ix Sins of Greenwashing鈥� during the lunchtime session on March 29. For more info: e-mail: Scott Sheffield, the conference director of Ecoprise 2008, at scott.sheffield@dal.ca

A graduate of York University鈥檚 Master in Environmental Studies program, she鈥檚 the keynote speaker at Ecoprise 2008, a Sustainable Business Conference hosted by The Faculty of Management鈥檚 Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship and Eco-Efficiency Centre. Ecoprise (along with , a national competition for students) will be held at AV俱乐部鈥檚 Rowe Management Building on March 28 and 29. Conference workshops explore socially-responsible investing, green technologies, leading sustainable business practices and more. (See the .)听听

鈥淚t鈥檚 an issue for companies that are really making an effort to do the right thing. There really is a large amount of consumer confusion. And hard-core green consumers tend to be the most skeptical. They鈥檙e saying, 鈥業 don鈥檛 buy into this鈥� and they鈥檒l look for some kind of third-party certification. But there is hope and we鈥檙e doing our best to educate consumers in this area.鈥�

Following its study, TerraChoice declared the 鈥淪ix Sins of Greenwashing, a light-hearted way of drawing attention to exaggerated or bogus claims. The environmental shortcomings were so prevalent that TerraChoice separated them into six categories, the 鈥渟ix sins.鈥�

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off: These are companies making one claim while ignoring other harmful environmental impacts, such as 鈥渆nergy-efficient鈥� electronics that contain hazardous materials.
2. Sin of No Proof: Companies make claims on their products, such as shampoos deemed 鈥渃ertified organic鈥� but there鈥檚 no way of checking out the claim and no verifiable certification.聽
3. Sin of Vagueness: Products claiming to be 100 per cent natural when they may contain naturally occurring substances that are hazardous, such as arsenic and formaldehyde.
4. Sin of Irrelevance: While CFCs have been banned in Canada for 20 years now, many products are still declared 鈥淐FC-free.鈥�
5. Sin of Fibbing: These are products which falsely claim to be certified by an internationally recognized environmental standard such as EcoLogo, Energy Star or Green Seal.
6. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: Organic cigarettes? Fuel-efficient SUVs? Huh?

鈥淐onsumers want to live a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle,鈥� says Ms. Peneycad. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to be able to buy green with confidence.鈥�

Manufacturers and suppliers can request an assessment and EcoLogo certification in order to determine whether a product鈥檚 claims are valid or if they commit one of the Six Sins.

EcoLogo鈥檚 insignia lets consumers know that an independent, credible and expert third party has verified a product鈥檚 green qualifications.