"Greenwashing" - and how to avoid it.

The Coalition realises that the only convincing way for the industry to achieve a credible level of sustainability for fire protection products and systems is through the creation of industry standards that can measure sustainability. Furthermore these standards, it believes, must be based on the complete range of environmental impacts over the entire life cycle of the product or system in question. This life‐cycle assessment (LCA) approach will require a fundamental re-evaluation on the way fire protection systems are monitored throughout their useful life and in their disposal or destruction. Fortunately the Coalition is not alone in its thinking, and the LCA approach is reflected in the structure of the internationally recognised ISO 14040 series of standards.

Currently, an increasing number of customers is demanding more environmentally‐friendly products. The list of businesses concerned with these issues is rapidly growing, and now includes the United States Government and commercial companies such as Walmart. These organisations want to purchase green products from green companies. When first introduced, these eco‐requirements acted as qualifiers, offering incentives to suppliers to meet green expectations. These same green criteria now act as disqualifiers, where vendors are disqualified for not meeting the requirements.

This pressure to meet eco‐criteria is leading some manufacturers to develop their own green labelling systems. Unfortunately, without independent standards developed for interpreting, measuring and reporting on a fire protection product's environmental claims, the industry risks allegations of “greenwashing” – that is, misleading consumers about the environmental attributes of advertised products.

The Coalition’s position is that Greenwashing must be avoided at all costs. Not only does it betray buyers, it also squanders the potential environmental benefit that might have been accrued through a better purchasing decision. Greenwashing also takes market share away from legitimate green products, and creates an atmosphere of cynicism and doubt about all environmental claims.

To prevent greenwashing, The Coalition supports the development of standards that are life‐cycle based, third‐party certified, publicly available, and transparent. It is an ambitious endeavour and will require support and input from a wide variety of participants. The Coalition is open to all stakeholders in the fire protection industry; whether a manufacturer, installer, maintainer or system user; the Coalition encourages the participation of all stakeholders in the discussion process.
 

The Global Environment and Society’s Response.

Whether you are a climate change evangelist or a sceptic, there is no doubt that society in general is taking a much more pro‐active, self‐regulating view of our responsibilities to the environment. Many of the questions we ask ourselves are prompted by significant events that we see as unusual or that are interpreted for us as unnatural: an earthquake in South America, a Tsunami in Asia, nuclear meltdown in the Ukraine; or as seen in Japan recently: all three.

The exponential growth in global population since the early part of the 20th century is closely tracked by the expectation of much improved lifestyles in the developed economies and the establishment of growing life expectancies in developing regions. This is the market for our general goods and services, and to satisfy the demand created by such rapid growth we have successfully built an industrialised society that has been very effective in satisfying the expectations of its customers.

But the price paid by our global environment is visible, to the degree that we are able to observe and measure the change to its condition and make judgements on its health. Looking forward, we are also much more aware of the real and implicit costs to our world of increased energy and the use of finite natural resources to support the lifestyles to which we all aspire.

In response to these challenges, the international community has come together to create consensus on action. Through myriad studies and action plans including the Montreal Protocol and the Kyoto Treaty, the international community has taken significant steps to address those environmental risks that have been observed and proven to present risk.

Government Action and Industry’s Response.

Environmental activists are no longer the lone voice demanding that we address the problem of climate change. Governments have taken on board the threat to our climate and correctly interpreted the risks in terms of national and regional threats, for example, flooding in Micronesia, pollution of rivers and water courses in Europe and the rising cost of medical care all over the world. Increasingly, we are seeing governments introduce more stringent regulations to eliminate known risks and more effectively regulate the use and impact of industry’s products and services.

Business too is committing itself to ambitious environmental goals, partly in reflection of increased regulations but also, importantly, because it recognises that demonstrating its civic commitments will meet its customers’ expectations of environmental responsibility. This in turn creates respect for the company and promotes stronger recognition of the company’s brands in the marketplace. Big business knows that it needs the goodwill and support of its customers to keep its products in the public eye for the right reasons. Moreover, leading businesses are finding that sustainability can be a lens for innovation and competitive advantage – making huge impacts on the financial bottom line through operational efficiencies, new product design, and more productive employees.

The first wave of environmentalism focused on bringing attention to dramatic environmental degradation and a resulting flurry of laws and regulation to protect natural resources. The second wave of environmentalism centred on good corporate citizenship, and building a positive brand by being “good to the environment”. The Coalition’s view is that we are now in the midst of the third wave – where organisations can create and drive value by integrating sustainable thinking and design into their operations and products. This value, however, depends on the ability of buyers to judge and differentiate between different “green” claims, and those who cannot pass the test for greenwashing will find not only that they have lost the green buyers, but that their overall credibility and trustworthiness in the market has declined. For that reason, it is critical that likeminded businesses come together to ensure that rigorous and robust sustainability criteria are developed. Sustainability is not going away, so the Coalition’s view is do not get left behind.

Contact: For further information, go to www.responsiblefireprotection.org/?id=1470369225

(Author)

Jennifer Woofter is President of Strategic Sustainability Consulting