The major markets of the world are struggling with the authenticity of green claims. Most e-logos are recent, and labeling laws are a decade out of date. Who is responsible for instilling trust?

"If the number of eco or green certifications now being plastered on everything from my coffee to the timber on my deck and the paper in my printer is anything to go by, being environmentally active should be cinch," writes an environmental columnist in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Rather than borrowing trust through an e-logo brand, each vendor should focus foremost on being a trusted brand."

In Australia, as in the United States, most e-logos are recent and labeling laws are a decade out of date. And these are just two of the major markets struggling with the authenticity of green claims.

"Energy saving" and "carbon neutral" are some of the most confusing claims for buyers, and among the hardest to prove. A broad collection of standards is emerging in an effort to clear things up. We can anticipate more vertical e-logos with standards that fit specific industries. Will more standards and more marks instill more confusion?

In my e-mail this morning was this question from a board member of the American Institute of Graphic Artists: "Should the design community hold their clients' feet to the fire, or should there be some single, governing body/organization that approves whether or not [a green certification logo's] criteria is met?"

Neither. I see green authenticity as a marketing challenge for each company to face. Rather than borrowing trust through an e-logo brand, each vendor should focus foremost on being a trusted brand.

To be sure, an e-logo could help a company start to build trust in its green claims, as long as the company has otherwise earned the confidence of its market, and assuming the company's established brand is not in opposition. But an e-logo could suddenly lose the trust of the marketplace, taking the company's brand with it.

If a vendor has earned the trust of its customers, and remains true to that in its green claims, then the e-logo's veracity isn't as important. A company, not an agency or mark, is responsible for the authenticity of its green claims, just as it is responsible for complying with FTC rules.

I'll have an interesting article along these lines in a business magazine next month, and I'll share that link here when it's published.

By Denis Du Bois at Energy Priorities