The present version of Green business is generally very motivated to promote any Green virtue to the buying public. Thousands upon thousands of businesses have learned the popularity of Green marketing is working, and yet the quality of the environmental commitment supporting those Green claims is often very shallow. This is why the phrase Greenwashing has become a backlash issue that will continue to embarrass more and more companies as the buying public looks a little closer only to discover that they have been deceived.

Take for example, the purchasing department of the ostensibly Green-promoted company. Regardless of the boasts made by the Green company, it is interesting to scratch the Green surface to see if it is more than a Greenwashed coat of marketing hype. Does the company asking the public to “Buy Green” also “Buy Green” when the public is not watching? In most cases, this breach of Green ethics is completely ignored, and that is more than unfortunate.

In order to perpetuate a Green marketplace, vendors must do more than sell Green, they must also buy Green. Buyers must have sellers as certainly as sellers must have buyers. This cycle of market integrity cannot be ignored. Any company that cannot sell its goods or services will go bankrupt. This is a basic business reality, and yet this business fact seems to be almost totally ignored by the vast majority of businesses in this country.

Solving this contradiction is actually fairly simple. The inclusion of a “Green Certification” clause in all contracts, RFP (Request for Proposal), and bid requirements is not difficult. In most cases, it requires the insertion of one obvious paragraph, and the whole purchasing department would be revolutionized. That clause might look something like this:

As an environmentally concerned business desirous to participate in the sustainable practices that impact our community and our world, our company requires all services and vendors to demonstrate similar environmental commitment by providing a Green business certification that comes from an audited verification by a national organization. Concerns for Greenwashing and ethical application of sustainable practices encourages our company to require all vendors to comply with verified environmental compliance.
The question of whether this demand is a viable business practice will be easily dismissed by reviewing the actions of WalMart in the last year. Coming off a lot of bad publicity for employment and salary issues, WalMart mounted an impressive campaign to be the leading Green business in America, and it worked spectacularly well. Eventually, WalMart imposed a Green demand on all vendors, and they scrambled to comply with every demand.

The public may rarely hear of the honest efforts of a company to apply Green practices throughout the operation, but in time, the certainty of a credibility issue will be tested. The vast majority of people are still fresh to the concepts of a Green or sustainable business. At this point, it is simple to fool most consumers. In fact, TerraChoice did a study in 2009 concluding that 98% of all Green products on store shelves were Greenwashed in some form or fashion. Sadly, this not only applies to cleaning products. It also has serious implications for all businesses that are promoting their Green qualities.

To complete the loop of Green credentials, the demand for a Green provider should require more than a website logo that can be bought for a fee. Green certification should come from a nationally recognized, third party that has conducted a live audit of the Green practices of the vendor. The challenge of the Green movement now is the quality and character of the changes being claimed. Without an audit, the participants are encouraged to embellish, over-promote, and mislead the depth of their environmental change. Only a Certified Green Consultant has the training and resources to conduct a true audit for Green practices.

Vendor and supplier contracts do not come up at one time. This is why the transition to Green can take one to two years at the very least. The very nature of a Green program is progressive anyway. There is no one-time fix that makes a company environmentally friendly. Changing the lights is one piece of a very large project. Going Green is a holistic approach to the business operation. The best attitude to the Green transition of a company is to look at the task as a three to five year effort. This allows the costs to be spread out over time. It also allows the company to realize some of the savings that come with a better program to offset other costs. Finally, Going Green is also about a behavior modification process that is never satisfied with an office memo. The commitment to become an authentically Green company will demonstrate the character and ethical backbone of any program. Greenwashing will be an eventual black eye that will only get worse.

It is time that Green is embraced as more than a marketing ploy that most often is not supported by the practice side of the business claiming to be environmentally friendly. Going Green is an investment into the future of the company and the future of our world. This is one time that it does not pay to do it poorly.

By: Michael Richmond

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