Marketing tactics of making false or misleading claims about a product or service's environmental benefits are greenwashing pure and simple .… Continue Reading
While American businesses continue to wait for the update to the 2012 FTC Green Guides this draft Guidance from Down Under is the best checklist, we are aware of, for mitigating the risk of greenwashing claims.… Continue Reading
How courts will likely analyze the growing numbers of greenwashing claims, providing guardrails for companies and mitigating their risk.… Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission announced last Wednesday that it is seeking public comment on updates and changes to the Green Guides for the Use of Environmental Claims. In an era when charges of greenwashing and green hushing are proliferating across social media while at the same time governments are mandating ESG including environmental disclosures by businesses, … Continue Reading
With allegations of greenwashing all but de rigueur, businesses should be on the alert for the soon to be released Federal Trade Commission’s updated Green Guides. This year companies are being publicly challenged and having their reputations tarnished for greenwashing, in some instances for deceptive misrepresentations, others for unintentionally misleading, and more often than not, … Continue Reading
This past week and there have been many other times this law firm was consulted about a marketing claim by a building owner with rooftop solar panels that advertises they “use” renewable energy, but the owner sells Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for the renewable energy it generates, so the Federal Trade Commission says it shouldn’t … Continue Reading
The word “organic” as it relates to non-agricultural products is the topic of the October 20, 2016, roundtable sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is a big deal. The roundtable will explore interpretations of organic claims for products that fall outside the scope of the USDA’s National Organic … Continue Reading
Three weeks ago the Federal Trade Commission sent warning letters to 5 providers of environmental certification seals and 32 businesses using those green seals, alerting them to the Agency’s concerns that the seals could be considered deceptive in violation of federal law. The FTC enforces the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45, which … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission sent letters to 15 businesses last month warning that their biodegradable claims may be deceptive. The FTC has since the 2012 release of the updated Green Guides stepped up enforcement of environment claims from the use of renewable energy to VOCs in coatings, and more.… Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission will begin to ramp up enforcement of environmental claims .. The coming crackdown on environmental claims follows an update of the FTC's Green Guides last year that set forth the commission's current views on environmental marketing to help business avoid making unfair or deceptive claims.… Continue Reading
This year, the US Green Building Council hosted the 2nd Annual Legal Forum at Greenbuild 2011. The fact that lawyers are now allowed to congregate and make presentations at the Greenbuild conference is an achievement. The green building community seems to understand that green buildings do present new risks that must be managed and attorneys can … Continue Reading