Do Companies Help the Environment by Going It Alone on Green Labelling?
February 17, 2008 by Eric Eggertson
Filed under Marketing
If you use an electronic chainsaw, is that more environmentally friendly than a gas-powered one? What has a smaller carbon footprint, a wooden-handled paintbrush (doesn’t hurt trees) or one with a plastic handle (doesn’t use non-renewable oil)?
These questions and hundreds more faced Home Depot when it decided to create an eco-friendly label for goods sold at the chain.
Is the massive home supplies retailer a saint for drawing attention to the relative impact on the environment of the products it sells? Or is it a devil that is thwarting industry-wide adoption of a common standard by creating its own eco-label?
Probably a bit of both. There’s no question Home Depot can singlehandedly drive suppliers to a more environmentally friendly product line. The evidence came when Home Depot decided not to buy any wood wholly or partly from old-growth forests.
Governments have tried leading the charge with eco-labels developed in conjunction with industries. Europe has the Eco-Label, in use since 1992. In Canada, the Eco Logo program has been in place since 1988 (now administered by TerraChoice).
There are also labels that have been established by advocacy groups, industry groups and others. Is the cause of allowing consumers to easily choose products that are more environmenally friendly better served by a bunch of individual companies pursuing their own green branding exercises, or a broader approach that consumers can trust?
There are so many claims that can be made about the relative benefits of one product over another. The more transparency in the way decisions are made, the better for long-term credibility. The Carbon Trust’s label shows the carbon footprint of a given product.
Regardless of industry-wide labels, Canon is choosing to highlight its printers’ eco-friendly features with a proprietary label -
But when the shopper is faced with dozens of choices on store shelves, the small eco labels can be overshadowed by a retailer’s method of displaying and highlighting products and their features. So maybe Home Depot has the right idea with their go-it-alone strategy, provided they are transparent and ethical about the way they administer the program.
For me, I’m going to continue to be skeptical about all environmental claims, until I see the details. That’s where you start to separate the B.S. from the truth.
See previous posts on green marketing:
Power Smart Campaign Aims to Change Power Consumption Behavior
Steve Jobs’ Reputation Management Gives Apple a Green Sheen
Target Green Conference Looks at Way to Be Greener and Look Greener
The truth is that life is about making waste. Everything has a cost. The sooner we’re honest about those costs and tradeoffs, the better decisions we’ll make. (And *that* is a true free-market solution…)
I fear that most of this labeling and logomotion is the real enemy of transparency. Too many are assuaged by the label to bother reading the fine print.
Well, one might hope that consumers look into things before making a purchase. No matter what sort of green or fair trade label something has, it’s still our responsibility to visit corporate sites and see what if anything the company is saying about their practices. Plus there are watchdog organizations that help monitor. Blindly buying because of a label is not very smart.
That said, I think we should have a few labels across the board. Too many is confusing to many consumers I think. Plus, it’s almost like false advertising. If your company is the sole monitor of your green efforts it doesn’t say much to me. Although, there are companies with their own labels who do good things. I guess it comes back to consumers doing a little research.