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Green product claims Updated: 08 Mar 2010

What you can do

Until companies start playing by the rules, the best way to protect yourself from being greenwashed is to take a healthy dose of scepticism with you when you go shopping.

Ignore the green hype. Think about the overall impact of the product - the packaging may be recyclable but that’s not the main point.
Look for precise claims and evidence to back up these claims.
Third-party certification (see Eco labels) helps distinguish real claims from fake.
Be suspicious if there’s no real evidence to support claims of “greenness” and no easy way to find out.

If a company's making a misleading or deceptive environmental claim, complain to the Commerce Commission. Let us know too.

You can also complain to the Advertising Standards Authority about misleading green claims made in ads. The ASA is a voluntary industry body. It can ask a company to withdraw an ad but it doesn’t have the regulatory clout of the Commerce Commission.

We say

The market is failing to provide consumers with reliable information about the environmental impacts of goods and services. All too often, it's left to consumers to sort fact from fiction.
Consumer protection needs to be improved. We want to see a mandatory consumer information standard for green claims and tough enforcement of this standard.