UK: Being green, what does it mean?

Since Kermit the Frog sang about the hardship of being a green in the 1970s, the term has become universal. Some of the most polluting industries are among the loudest to vaunt their "green" credentials.

Energy firm Edf, for example, is running a nostalgia-laden advertisement that starts with the song: "It's not easy being green" originally trilled by Kermit Retailers from Carphone Warehouse with its "green" mobile phone charger, to political parties such as the Conservative party, with its motto "Vote Blue to go Green", all claim to be green.

High Street firms, especially supermarkets, have jumped on the bandwagon. And an entire industry of smaller green firms has developed with names such as Little Green Radicals for baby goods to Eco-Centric.

But has business really changed?

'Death Star'
According to a survey by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), less than half, or 38%, of the FTSE 350 firms have projects to cut greenhouse gas emissions and targets.

"Airlines talk about being more efficient and offsetting but their main effort is still getting as many people into the air as possible," says Dax Lovegrove, head of business and industry relations at environmental pressure group WWF. Green goods are often tacked onto the main business as a sideline, he says.

Even Rory Sutherland, vice president at advertising firm Ogilvy, which developed BP's Beyond Petroleum campaign, highlights the tokenism. He uses a Star Wars analogy to explain what he calls the "tick box" mentality of some organisations. "Some firms think: 'We might be the Death Star, but we have a flowerbed in the fourth quadrant. Some people are recycling'".

Yet amidst this sea of claims some firms can be singled out. Notable among them is Marks & Spencer. WWF's Mr Lovegrove points to the comprehensiveness of Marks & Spencer's Plan A, "which sets it head and shoulders apart from its competitors". This is not just about packaging but about infrastructure and energy usage, he says. The five year plan, announced in 2007, includes aims to send no waste to landfill by 2012, to increase "sustainable sourcing" and cut energy related CO2 emissions and help farmers who are investing in small-scale renewable energy production.

But if this is the exception, what does it say about other green claims?

'Robust evidence'
The lack of consistency in green statements is something Britain's Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) and the government is trying to tackle. Green does not systematically refer to how much energy is used to make a product or provide a service; whether an item can be recycled, how sustainable the material or resources are, or anything specific at all. Edf's advert says the firm "aims to reduce the intensity of its emissions by 60% by 2020". Arguably most people would not know what this means. Increasingly firms are making green claims before the science has been proven, said the ASA.

This seems to echo a study from environmental marketing company TerraChoice called "The Six Sins of Greenwashing," arguing that of 1,018 common consumer products 99% were guilty of greenwashing in some way. While the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has a green claims code, it is not enforceable.

Paradox
Mike Childs, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth, says being green is hard for any company "because mass retailing is based on consumption". But he underlines an inherent challenge: "We haven't a hope in hell in tackling climate change unless business is part of solution".

Outside the UK there are signs of a shift, which recognises the inherent challenge facing firms. Norway, for example, has forbidden terms including green, environmentally friendly, clean, and natural in car adverts on the grounds that no vehicle is actively beneficial for the environment.

Ogilvy's Mr Sutherland argues that we are quick to blame firms but they rely on consumers spending. "Consumers will buy Ecover washing up liquid or recycled loo roll then fly to Latin America for a holiday – clearly the former doesn't begin to justify the latter as far as the environment is concerned."

In short, the greener option is glaringly obvious. Claiming to be green might be easy. But – as Edf energy admits – being green is not.