A case for clarity

The sustainable products industry is growing. And so are complaints of "greenwashing," the practice of making unsubstantiated claims about a product's environmental friendliness. In a 2007 study of European Union and U.S. consumers, only 10 percent of those surveyed said they trusted green information from business and government.*

That's why we created UL Environment. We're here to help manufacturers, their business customers and consumers alike get clarity on what may or may not be a sustainable product. We founded our company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories®, in response to requests from manufacturers to create a "UL for the environmental industry," a trusted organization to help the industry move from a self-declaration model of environmental claims to one of independent third-party claims validation and certification to standards.

UL Environment works hands on with our manufacturing customers, bringing all 115 years of experience in testing, certification and standards development to the environmental products industry. We'll help manufacturers wade through the evolving and changing landscape. Then, through the validation of claims or certification to standards, UL Environment will provide credible, trusted results that offer manufacturers a competitive advantage.

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* Daily Telegraph. "Record complaints over ‘greenwashing.'" (25 April 2008)