What do you know about the Federal Trade Commission’s “Guide for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims,” also known as the Green Guides?
Here’s a short quiz. Select the correct answer or answers for each question.
- The Green Guides are:
- Updated every year
- Relevant only to consumer goods companies
- Nonbinding recommendations for best practices
- Currently under review
- The current Green Guides contain the following sections:
- General Environmental Benefit
- Carbon Offsets
- Certifications
- Made with Renewable Energy
Keep reading to see if you answered correctly.
Updates and Revisions
A new edition of the Green Guides is supposed to be released later this year. It will supersede the 2012 edition. Yes, it has been 12 years since the guides were revised. Multiple sections are being updated to clarify what environmental claims should be permitted. The revisions emphasize that claims of General Environmental Benefit are often suspect. Instead, manufacturers should promote specific benefits they can quantify and prove.
The 2024 edition will contain several new sections that reflect topics that have become relevant in the past decade. The new sections cover carbon offsets, certifications/seals of approval, and the terms free of, nontoxic, made with renewable energy, and made with renewable materials.
Conflicting Comments
A request for comments about the upcoming revision to the Green Guides received hundreds of responses from organizations representing industries ranging from consumer goods to raw materials. Even though the Green Guides offer nonbinding recommendations and are not legal regulations, commenters universally agreed that the guides are still needed.
The commission evaluating the comments has been grappling with an enormous task. It will be impossible to incorporate all the suggestions, mainly because some conflict directly with others.
For example, there are many arguments over the definition of “recyclable.” Under the proposed revision, manufacturers can claim that an item is recyclable if it can be accepted for recycling in a “substantial majority” of the locations where it is sold, defined as at least 60 %. The American Chemistry Council, which represents plastics manufacturers, wants plastics to be labeled as recyclable if the material can technically be recycled, regardless of actual recycling rates or availability. The Union of Concerned Scientists disagrees and suggests that the criteria for “substantial majority” be increased.
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) and Consumer Technology Association (CTA), representing 3000 member companies in the electronics industry, support expanding the Green Guides. They are concerned about confusion over terms like carbon neutral, zero carbon, and fully offset and suggest requiring independent third-party verification for claims.
Relating Green Guides to Semiconductor Manufacturing
The Green Guides talk about messaging intended for consumers, with a focus on avoiding misleading or confusing language. Our industry doesn’t make consumer goods, so why should we care about the Guides? The quick answer is that much of the advice is relevant.
PFAS-Free
For example, consider claims that a product is “free of” certain harmful ingredients. The new proposed section intends to ensure that products promoted in that manner do not contain other equally harmful ingredients. A claim is also deceptive if no competing products include the specified ingredients.
As our industry investigates alternatives to PFAS chemicals, we should ensure that the replacements do not cause unintended consequences. Suppliers promoting their products as PFAS-free would be wise to follow the guidelines outlined in the Green Guides even though their customers are other companies and not individuals.
Carbon Offsets
Carbon offsets are typically included in plans to achieve net zero carbon emissions. The draft section on offsets in the 2024 Green Guides requires companies to demonstrate scientific evidence behind offsetting claims and not to double-count reductions. It also warns companies not to advertise offsets resulting from activities that are already required by law and would happen regardless of whether a company purchases offsets.
Even if you sell to other companies in your industry, your marketing is reaching people. The language explaining your approach to becoming carbon neutral and using carbon offsets should be clear and unconfusing. The updated Guides will help you frame it.
Certifications
Certifications vary widely. Application processes range from submitting self-reported information and paying a registration fee to going through a rigorous evaluation audited by independent third parties. The Green Guides advise companies not to misrepresent certifications. They should clarify the specific achievements and limitations of each certification they claim.
Zero Waste to Landfill is one such certification. Brewer Science has earned this distinction every year since 2015. The company shares how it has achieved it, noting the amount of waste reused, recycled, and burned for energy to power its facilities.
Many companies in our industry have achieved ISO certifications—common ones include quality (ISO9001) and environmental management (ISO14001). Some of ASE’s facilities are certified to seven different ISO standards. These standards help document processes and uncover opportunities to improve them.
Simply being ISO certified does not guarantee that a company is best in class. Regardless, the message to say what you do and do what you say that’s embedded in the ISO standards is good advice. Backing up your claims with evidence and data will allow you to share your progress on environmental performance honestly and honor the essence of the Green Guides.
How did you do on the quiz at the beginning of this post? Did your answers change after reading it? I invite you to email me or message me on LinkedIn and let me know.
