How To Spot Greenwashing
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 04.11.08
How do you spot greenwashing? We had a few suggestions over at Planet Green, but Keith at Unsuitablog makes a few more:
-Be suspicious of all environmental claims. Don’t trust anything unless you have verified them yourself.-Look out for poor use of scientific facts, especially when listening to politicians: “Reducing carbon emissions will protect the ozone layer”, “this technology is sustainable”, “emissions can be offset”, “the greenhouse effect is not certain” etc. All examples of rubbish that has no basis in fact, even the last one (think about it).
-Look out for buzzwords that put a gloss on reality: ”carbon intensity”, “sustainable development”, “carbon offsets”, “clean technology” etc. Another clear sign that something is being covered up.
More tips at ::Unsustainablog image credit: ::Greenpeace
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Also, they're probably greenwashing if their Chairman says global warming is "a crock of ****"
Spotting greenwashers is vital to expanding a strong and reliable green sector in the economy. However, words like sustainability and carbon offsets are not only used by greenwashers. Make sure your source is reliable by looking for an independent national certification from sources like Green-e (for renewable energy and carbon offsets), USGBC LEED (for green building), and Energy Star (for energy-efficient appliances). these national certifiers protect the public against false marketing and greenwashing.
Seriously, marketing is getting sneakier by the day...the best method is just to read ingredient lists. Toilet paper is a great example - just because the label has beautiful pine trees does not mean that they aren't mowing them down...check out what percentage is made from post consumer recycled materials.
There's a great wiki where you can add your own thoughts on How to Identify Greenwashing
Great post Lloyd (also, I'm originally from Belleville, but living in CA now - give my regards to the Great White North!)
Every time I watch the Discovery Channel I am subjected to the "Chevron - Human energy" commercials. They credit themselves with exploring new horizons and investing in alternative energy etc, but still it leaves a bit of greenwashing taste in my mouth - if we set up some hybrid system in a remote location, then it is a-Okay to launch a new deep ocean oil platform to feed the ever increasing need for power. All the slogans they shell about conservation, collaboration still don't rub the right way.
I know that an oil company cannot just suddenly stop being an oil company and a responsible thing for them to do would be to continue their business minimizing the impact and directing the profits to technologies that help to replace fossil fuel use within a certain time, hopefully they are doing just that, but still, for some reason this commercial does not sound sincere. Maybe I'm just paranoid.
Hopefully they are facing the need to change and are not delaying it by trying to sound more green while actually increasing the production of oil and propagating it's consumption.
Well, at least by advertising on Discovery they indirectly support Treehugger as well, so they can't be all evil, right?
One other thing: "Made from natural ingredients found in the rainforests of Amazon" = greenwash with a capital G!!!
So why is Treehugger running GM banners?!
GM made the "Don't Be Fooled: America's Ten Worst Greenwashers" list at greenwashing.net
Who killed the Electric Car again?
You mention "carbon offsets" as a way to detect Greenwashing. I feel that "carbon offsets" can be a good thing IF THEY REALLY OFFSET. I saw this discussed on The Nature Conservancy website. To be a real offset, the donation/investment must be to something like planting enough trees in sufficient amount and in sufficient time to really make a difference. And their donation/investment should be a high enough of a percentage of their investments to show they are serious. Major corporations are making investments in such projects as restoring the Atlantic Forest in Brazil by planting trees. The Atlantic Forest has been identified as a globally significant Biodiversity Hotspot by Conservation International and restoring it could benefit planetwide biodversity. I wouldn't want to discourage these donations/investments by private individuals or corporations.