New Scientist sponsored an “unparalleled quantitative assessment of companies’ global environmental impact” in conjunction with Earthsense of Syracuse, NY and Trucost, headquartered in London.  They asked the question, “do the corporations that benefit from our environmentally conscious purchasing and investment choices deserve their green halo?  If as consumers and investors we don’t have a good idea of what companies are “genuine” and authentic, it’s not likely we will move forward on rebuilding a greener, more sustainable economy.

I have referenced this study in an earlier blog post about values-washing, a sibling of greenwashing, where what companies tout as their values and what they actually do are two different stories, but did not note then the case referenced about Whole Foods in regards to the chasm between perception and reality. Whole Foods rated high on the consumer side, “shouting green,” but “Trucost’s modelling rated Whole Foods no better than conventional supermarkets such as Safeway.  Part of the reason lies in the fact that Whole Foods has not disclosed all of the environmental data that Trucost needs in its rating system. Whole Foods promises “to produce a full inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions later this year.” But wait.

This last week friends brought to my attention a news story that Whole Foods is sourcing much of its private label brand (365 Organics) from China with the issue being “whether so-called ‘Organics’ are mislabeled with product packaging or labels that feature the Quality Assurance International (QAI) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) seals. This supposed transgression by Whole Foods was an ABC story and has been carried far and wide across the Internet.  It appears, however, that Whole Foods is sourcing organic foods from China and the labels it afixes to its private label products is legit : “Since 2002, the USDA’s National Organic Standards have governed exactly what can be sold as organic in the US – how it’s grown, processed and handled – regardless of where in the world it’s grown, INCLUDING China.”

ValuesTrashing?  It is getting increasingly difficult to know what to believe. The Web, however, is good for not only spreading mis-information but checking up on and ABC, as a source on the green movement, is interesting as they are owned by Disney, basically an entertainment company, “diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with four business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment and consumer products. ABC apparently isn’t all that much in to fact checking these days, but then Whole Foods wasn’t upfront about its process and partners in the food chain. More transparency is called for.