US watchdog trains microscope on green building claims

The Federal Trade Commission last week signaled the possibility of a crackdown on building and construction firms that overstate their green credentials following a meeting to discuss whether the environmental marketing guidelines governing the industry need updating.

A gathering of professionals in the environmentally-friendly building industry helped the Commission on what has been described by participants as an information gathering mission.

"It really was a deluge of information about green buildings, whether relating to energy efficiency, green residential construction, or greening of existing structures," said Jason Harpke, director of advocacy and public policy at the US Green Building Council, who participated in the event. "All these various topics were considered and it’ll give them a better footing for moving forward."

In January, the Commission bought forward a review of the guidelines for advertising environmental credentials, commonly known as the ‘Green Guides’, following what it said was an increase in green advertising claims. The first workshop of the review, originally planned for next year, dealt with carbon offsets and renewable energy credits.

Helen Goodland, executive director of the Light House, a Vancouver-based organisation providing consumer information about green buildings, criticised the industry for a lack of clarity that made it susceptible to greenwashing. "It's a problem that stems from confusion around terminology and a lack of standards," she said. "Without either, it's up for the market to decide it. And you find people setting their green indicator very low. "

FTC spokesman Mitchell Katz refused to divulge a timeline for the publication of the new green guides, but said that separate reports would be produced for each workshop. "It depends on what the reports and the public comments have to say with regard to the rulemaking," he said.

The state of California, meanwhile, took matters into its own hands last week, introducing its own California Green Building Standards Code, which reportedly require new buildings to meet current requirements under the US Green Building Council's Silver LEED standard. The code will be voluntary until 2010.