Can the FTC stop companies from greenwashing?

The Federal Trade Commission is one of the lesser understood but nonetheless very important federal agencies. It governs consumer protection in commerce on a variety of fronts, one of which is truth in advertising. False advertising, a form of fraud, is a pertinent issue to consumers right now because of the frequency of greenwashing in mainstream media. Many companies make claims about how sustainable their businesses or products are without any proof, or worse, with proof to the contrary. Where companies make sustainability claims that can be disproved by data, they are theoretically at risk of prosecution for fraud from the FTC and from states. Consumers like you can help the FTC nail offenders.

The FTC is normally busy with fraud related to health and finance scams. We're talking Cash-4-Gold and Lose-100 lbs in 2 weeks type infomercials. For example, that Natural Cures guy Kevin Trudeau has lost an avalanche of state and FTC claims for these types of offenses. That type of egregious, widespread deception is choice for FTC action, where greenwashing remains more elusive.

As early as 1998, the FTC had issued "Green Marketing Guidelines" for consumers (google the title to get them). These guidelines, while not enforceable, provide extensive explanation as to the type of claims the FTC finds suspect. They include issues like clarity (recyclable label: the product, or the packaging?), overstatement of environmental benefits, ambiguity in comparisons to competing products, unsubstantiated environmental claims and deceptive labeling. There are numerous ways for companies to offend the law through vague green marketing.

Unfortunately, until there is more transparency in more companies' reporting data, it is difficult for the FTC to disprove the claims. Oftentimes,  companies that make environmental claims are not sustainable businesses nor have CSR programs. To rectify this problem, legislators should consider rules that require standard CSR reports as a prerequisite to marketing featuring sustainability benefits. The marketing restraints created by data may be related to why Apple won't release their GHG figures; if it does, it is liable if it sells computers using false claims which are currently impossible to disprove.

The other problem the FTC faces is typical in government: volume versus funding. The public ranks identity theft and financial scams as higher priority problems than greenwashing in retail product marketing, which doesn't even make the list (a list that you can find on the FTC website). Until the FTC has more money, time, or fewer high priority problems, it's up to consumers and advocates to bring actionable issues to the FTC's attention. You can do so by reading the guidelines to get an idea of what to look for, document the suspect advertising, find data that contradicts the advertising, and report offenses to the FTC at the FTC Complaint Assistant website. Only you (and the FTC, responsible companies, additional legislation and increased reporting) can prevent greenwashing.