• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 24, 2023

As part of its ongoing efforts to help mitigate greenwashing on Madison Avenue, the Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE) is exploring the creation of a new industry entity that would help develop common standard and guidelines the ad industry can use to self-regulate the practice.

The entity, dubbed “Common Consortium for Greenwashing Prevention” (CCGP) was disclosed in a letter sent to the Federal Trade Commission this morning, in response to the commission’s request for public comments to update the agency’s own “Green Guides” for the use of environmental marketing claims, which followed several congressional hearings last last year on the practice of greenwashing campaigns developed by major ad agencies and PR firms for fossil fuel marketers.

In the letter, the IAE said the new consortium would consist “of experts from different fields to develop common standards and guidelines based on social science frameworks and an educational component to raise awareness and build capacity among key stakeholders.”

The IAE also disclosed that it already has circulated a framework for mitigating greenwashing to 2,000 “industry players” in January, and that it is in the process of updating a “greenwashing prevention module” as part of its self-administered ad industry professional certification process.