US advertising watchdog to address green building claims

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it is to turn its attention to green marketing claims made by building and textiles firms as it continues its review into its guidelines governing environmental marketing claims.

The FTC said it would host a public workshop on the green marketing claims being made for the building and textile industries and the consumer perception of such claims on 15 July.

The workshop will focus on consumer understanding of green claims, the current state of third-party verification schemes for environmental claims, and whether additional or updated FTC guidance is required on what types of green claims are acceptable.

In particular, the discussion is expected to address how claims regarding the use of organic cotton and bamboo fibres in garments are verified, as well as issues surrounding what constitutes a green building or green building product.

The workshop is the third in a series of roundtables designed to assess whether a huge increase in the number of environmental claims being made by firms and growing concerns over greenwashing that have emerged since the Commission's official Green Guides were last reviewed in 1998 mean that new guidelines governing environmental adverts and marketing claims are required.

The first workshop in January addressed claims made by carbon offsetting firms while the second event, held in April, examined green packaging claims.

The move has been broadly welcomed by environmentalists who have become increasingly concerned in recent years that many firms' green claims cannot be accurately and independently verified.

However, the workshops have provoked opposition from some advertisers which claim that current rules are sufficient and that more stringent regulations could stifle some firms' green activities.

According to reports earlier this year, the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) made a joint filing to the FTC arguing that any judgment on new guidelines should not be rushed.

The advertising agencies warned that changes to the guidelines could hamper firms' ability to communicate their green initiatives and said the FTC should " not to take any action that would stifle the ability or the interest of a company to make positive steps in improving the environment".