Green credentials of electronics company attacked

Canon is accused of greenwashing as criticism of its recycled printers gains momentum on the web, yet the company still scores highly amongst ecologically friendly brands.

Electronics manufacturer Canon has drawn criticism from influential environmental media outlets such as Triple Pundit and sustainability experts like Leon Kaye for ‘greenwashing."

Greenwashing is a modern term used to describe companies that deceptively promote their products and policies as environmentally friendly.

The electronics company is being attacked for claims made in their ‘Green Nation' marketing program. The Green Nation program, which focuses on the Asia Pacific Rim, was launched in Japan in early March and draws attention to the environmental credibility of Canon's products.

The products criticized by Triple Pundit and Leon Kaye on July 15 include Canon's new line of printers, the Image Runner Advance series, which were previously claimed to have been made with recycled plastics. However several internet blogs, including Triple Pundit, claim there is a contradiction with the company literature. Canon is also under scrutiny for its use of ‘eco-image' eucalyptus paper as questions are being raised as to the true environmental benefit of such paper. These products were part of Canon's campaign for a more environmentally friendly office.

Numerous environmental blogs are now questioning whether the campaign would have been subject to more intense scrutiny had it been marketed in North America or Europe.

Other multinationals have also been the target of criticism for greenwashing. In 2007 Coca-Cola received the satirical ‘Corporate Greenwashing award' from campaigner for social change The Polaris Institute.

However nonprofit organization climatecounts.org, which scores the world's largest companies on their climate impact, rates Canon highly. The website gives each brand or company a score out of 100, those companies with the higher scores are implementing more environmentally friendly policies, and therefore producing more environmentally friendly products. Amongst electronics companies Canon scores 71 /100 points while in comparison Apple scores 52 and Hewlett Packard has the highest score with 79.