Come clean on sustainability

One of the most frequently asked consumer questions about green power is how the green electricity gets into customers' overhead lines.

Clearly, as consumers rather than scientists, it's hard to know exactly what we're paying for.

Some companies have been taking advantage of this, leading to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently announcing a crackdown on false green marketing. The watchdog is threatening fines of up to $1.1 million for companies that mislead us with terms such as "green", "environmentally safe" and "carbon neutral".

This month, a supermarket chain agreed to place stickers over environmental claims on some of its tissue products after the validity of the statements was called into question.

The ACCC is also taking action for the "Switch to carbon neutral motoring" ads that ran last year for Saab.

The campaign - promoting a plan that 17 trees would be planted to neutralise the impact of each car - is alleged to have misled consumers into thinking they were buying a car that would be carbon neutral for life.

Unfortunately, carbon neutrality and other green jargon is in danger of becoming what "reduced fat", "low cal" and "high fibre" were in past decades. And green claims at present are unregulated.

Although some independent groups offer accreditation schemes for products such as green energy, most claims are not subject to oversight or review.

What is needed in this space is three-fold: greater consumer awareness, change at the regulatory level, and responsibility from communicators to disclose the limits of claims.

The ACCC, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Choice have all released information online recently to help the public understand green terminology and make informed decisions when choosing from the many environmentally friendly products.

If a claim doesn't make sense or seems too good to be true, the message is "don't buy".

And when making big purchasing decisions, try to dig deeper than reading the promotional material. Read the company's social responsibility information online, or ask for it before giving them your dollars. You may be surprised at how many large corporations boast recycled packaging, while their own policies regarding office waste disposal and purchasing leave a lot to be desired.