Do you recall “Cutters”? These were the people who seemed to have no regard for anyone else except getting there before you. It seemed that life has always been all about their interests, not yours. It is an insult to everyone who did things right by those who just didn’t give a damn about the effect on you.
Cutting has found its way into the Green business arena as businesses find ways to cut in line ahead of the ones who are doing it right. The right way to develop as a Green business is to develop a sustainability plan that does more than a few token gestures, and then faithfully implement that plan over time. To validate that the efforts were real and properly engaged, an auditor is called in to verify that the company had achieved a level of certification. These four steps of planning, implementation, audit, and certification are the normal and right way to develop a truly Green business.
Any attempt to brand your company as a Green business must be supported by something more than boast and should have substance that supports the company’s marketing and branding campaign.
Well, there are those who just can’t wait that long. Instead, they follow one of several ways to cut into line as others faithfully follow the rules. For those wondering, “Cutting” is just another definition for the Greenwashing mania happening across America. Of course, the most flagrant form of cutting is simply self-assertion. Small companies do it by inventing their own logo on Photoshop or making Green claims in their advertising that are not fair representations. Larger companies have the budget for more polished Greenwashing efforts.
If you Google for “Green business certification” on the Internet, you will find that 98% of the companies offering to certify your business “Sight unseen.” These website represent to worst form of Green certification because they rely on deceptive practices from the start. An audit is not a self-assessment. Yet, these firms claim to filling in forms about your company are an audit. Worse yet, they ask the company to pass the deception on to the customer by claiming that they are “Green certified.” The only real requirement for these scam certifications is paying the fee.
In a less critical application, many cities have borrowed the idea of forming a Green business certification that comes in an ad hoc committee to promote their Green project. It reminds me of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland years where they put on a Hollywood show in a barn. You can admire the initiative, but there is not much credibility in such project. Participants have to be concerned that a lack of future funding or a demise of volunteers will bring this boastful program down to a humiliating end.
Greenwashing is endemic in the business world, and the variation run from blatant abuse to well-intended ignorance. This brings us to the element that should be found in a true certification program. First of all, there needs to be a national standard that creates a uniformity of compliance. It need not be complex or difficult, but provide a tiered process for companies to follow.
Secondly, there is simply no way to claim certification without a standard of compliance and an audit of the compliance by the company. Returning to the format offered at the start of this article, the plan and implementation is how companies “Play Fair” when it comes to a Green business transition. The audit and certification is how the public knows that the company isn’t cutting into line under false pretenses.
The public should take note of every Green logo that they encounter and do a quick Internet search to see which companies are trying to cheat the system. If the logo is merely a purchase made online and the numerous forms are smart window-dressing that are never audited, then stop doing business with that company. Their lack of ethics and integrity will show up in other ways as well.
If the company has the audacity to make their own Green logo and claim to be Green, the buyer should beware that under such self-promotions a company has no standard of compliance. Any company could literally go out and buy recycled paper and therefore claim that they have “Gone Green.”
In a day of marketing ingenuity and hype, we may want to remember the truism: “What is not measured cannot be proved, and what cannot be proved should not be believed.” The marketing efforts of any company should not be built on pretense, but with honesty. In an age that calls for transparency, deception is not a good marketing strategy.