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“Consumer interest in conserving energy and protecting the environment will likely result in continued environmental marketing,” James Kohm, Director of FTC’s Enforcement Division, said during the hearing. “Competition based on green claims drives businesses to greater innovation, which ultimately benefits consumers by increasing the availability of the types of Green products and services they desire. For the marketplace to thrive, however, companies must compete on the basis of legitimate advertising claims and consumers must be able to rely on those claims.”

Also at the hearing, Urvashi Rangan, Director of Technical Policy for Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports), said consumers face a “dizzying array” of labels — from specific claims like “no phthalates” to vague and undefined claims like “natural” and “green.”

“Of the certified label programs, there are several viable business models including public, private, non-profit, for-profit—that may or may not be of interest to a particular consumer,” Rangan said.

When Consumers Union surveys green labels, it looks at criteria including: verification, consistency, transparency, stakeholder input and independence.

“Comprehension and accessibility are challenges for all green claims. Whether specific or broad, the maintenance and evolution of standards over time must be addressed,” Rangan said.

Government and industry should work toward defining what constitutes fair Green marketing practices, said Scott Cooper, Vice President of Government Relations for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

“In order to make this vision a reality, we need to make more efficient use of the standards and conformance resources that are already in place . . . and we need to identify every gap that exists,” Cooper said.

ANSI offers accreditation in sustainable forestry, environmental management and food and agriculture best practices.

The European Union has an official eco-label program, which recently began certifying foods.