Angie's List invites (encourages) 400,000+ companies to greenwash

The Greenwash Brigade

Angie's List is providing new tools and incentives for small and large companies across the country to slap on some green paint. They provide consumer-generated reviews for more than 400,000 companies nation-wide.

As the owner of a 105-year-old, four-unit apartment building, I do my fair share of hiring people to fix things up. I, too, joined Angie's List to help sort through the options.

Yesterday, I noticed that The List had added an "eco-friendly" designation to their ratings. I checked out the architects - a small set of companies in the Twin Cities with whom I'm fairly familiar - to see who got the ranking and who didn't. What I saw didn't bear much relationship with what I know about the practices and work of the architects on the list.

I started to dig in - first wondering how companies got the "eco-friendly" designation. I found a members only FAQ definition: "Eco-friendly: company utilizes green work practices and/or materials."

A public FAQ entry gives a little more detail.

Can I search for companies that are green on Angie's List? Yes! On the search results page, you can sort by the "eco-friendly" column heading so those companies that have registered their green certifications with us appear first. There are currently seven designations and a separate icon for each. These certifications are self reported by each company.

I didn't understand the "seven designations," but thankfully they acknowledge that certifications are self-reported (if you read the FAQ).

Knowing the length of many category lists, getting sorted to the top of the list provides a hefty incentive to say "yep!" when Angie asks if you're "eco-friendly." (Plus, you can now justify upping your prices by 10%, because everyone knows green always costs more.)

I wrote to Angie's List to ask for more detail. Tony responded, justifying self-reports. "In other words, we're taking the company's word for it, which is fair since any company claiming a certification it doesn't deserve risks being found out the first time one of our members gives their service a try." Assuming members know how to verify the "certification." And bother. Would you know if your ducts were properly sealed when you installed AC in your house? Or whether the SEER they recommended was eco-friendly?

I also clicked for an hour and figured out about the "seven designations."

LEED Accredited Professional
Energy Star Partner
Green Building Professional (Green Organizations to which you belong)
Lead Safety Program
Professional who uses Green Products or work practices
National Association of Remodelers member
National Association of Homebuilders member

The first two are useful certifications. 3, 4 & 5 are as valid as the language service providers type in. (I read one that was hogwash.) The last two, who knows. Sometimes there's a link to the NARI or NAHB Certified Green Professional web page, sometimes not. I couldn't find any detail on what the designations mean on the website.

And, I'm not sure whether it's a software bug or what, but in clicking through on 30+ companies with "eco-friendly" designations, I found several whose detail page said, "This company has no Eco-Friendly accreditations."

Angie, you're not doing anyone any favors by skipping third-party certification. You could at least tell members how to verify their designations - and give a word of warning. You have created the most efficient tool I've yet seen for broad-based, unreliable eco-self-promotion.

December 19, 2008 by Janne K. Flisrand
5 comments

tags: Angie's List certifications

Comments (5)

Cheryl Reed | Respond
December 19, 2008 7:43 AM PT

We appreciate your membership and your interest in our attempt to help members find green companies, Janne. I do want to correct you, though. We categorically do not invite nor encourage companies to green wash. In fact, we remove any such inaccurate labeling as soon as we find it.

We began offering our eco-friendly designations because our members asked us to help them find companies that operate in an environmentally responsible fashion. As you know, there are many shades of environmental responsibility and we went to great lengths to devise a system that covers the more than 400 service categories we offer. Some of our members want house cleaners who use environmentally safe cleaning products. Some of our members want to deal only with LEED certified contractors. Many fall in between those two points.

As one of our members, I’m confident you are aware that Angie's List offers in-depth information about members' personal experiences with service providers, which is useful when members are researching whom to hire. We ask companies rated on Angie's List to give us as much information about themselves as possible to help members learn before they hire, including their practices concerning environmental impact.

The majority of our members are quick to alert us to any discrepancies companies report – as are those companies' competitors. Your assertion that we would encourage inaccurate information is incorrect and a disservice to the List, its members, the companies on the List and your readers.

We've already removed a number of eco-friendly designations from companies that did not meet the standards, and we'll continue to do so as we find them. Feel free to report to us the ones you've identified, and feel free to encourage others to do the same.

We understand your need to call attention to green washing. We don’t like it any more than you do. Again, we do not condone, support or invite it.

We're in the early stages of this process to help members find truly green companies. Your suggestions for improvement are appreciated.

Cheryl Reed
Director of Communications
Angie's List

Janne Flisrand | Respond
December 19, 2008 9:57 AM PT

Cheryl -

The Greenwash Brigade is all about accuracy in eco-claims. Thanks for helping with our accuracy.

Could you please provide us with more information?
1) For those designations which aren't self-explanatory (i.e. LEED AP or Energy Star Partner) what do the designations signify?
2) What is the process for a company to "earn" or receive a designation on the list, if they are invited to fill out a form with questions on eco-friendliness? Under what circumstances would you refuse a company's claim of a designation?

Understanding the process is key to knowing the validity of the "certifications" designated by The List.

From dictionary.com - definitions of "certify"
1. to attest as certain; give reliable information of; confirm: He certified the truth of his claim.
2. to testify to or vouch for in writing: The medical examiner will certify his findings to the court.
3. to guarantee; endorse reliably: to certify a document with an official seal.

I ask for the process so I can understand on what basis Angie awards her official seal.

If I missed information posted on your website, a link would be helpful.

Cheryl | Respond
December 19, 2008 11:36 AM PT

1. The Definitions -- other than NARI, NAHB, LEED and Energy Star, which are self evident.

• Green Building Professional – This designation applies to contractors certified by a local or regional green building program, such as Built Green or EarthCraft.

• Lead safe: This company has been certified in either a state or federal
program for working safely with projects that involve lead paint hazards.
Certifications can vary by state, so be sure to ask who certified your
contractor ‹ and check it out if need be.

• Green products or practices: This company has indicated to Angie’s List that
they are committed to using green products or practices in their work. They're asked to give us details on their practices and products.

2. The Process

When companies give us this information, they do so by registering on a special Web site created for companies on the List and giving us their company profile. The profile gives members information about location, staff size, services provided, licensure, bonding, etc...

If they click "yes" to any of the 7 eco friendly designations, a field pops up for additional information.

For LEED, NAHB, NARI and Energy Star partner, that field asks for their Member ID number.

For Green Building Professional, the field asks them to identify the green organizations to which they belong.

For Professional who uses Green Products or work practices, we ask for specifics on the products they use. Examples would be pest control people or house cleaners who use nothing but environmentally friendly products.

For Lead Safety Program, we ask for details on their lead safety practices.

Our Company Connect team -- a group of Angie's List employees who deal with issues pertaining to the companies on the List -- reviews these profiles and investigates their accuracy. These reviews may be prompted by members or companies, but they may also be prompted in the course of normal review.

You raise a good point that we should make the definition of these designations more readily available. We're in the process of doing that.

3. Revocation/Denial

An example of a revocation is an auto repair and painting company that had claimed six of the eco icons, including National Home Builders Association, the National Association of the Remodeling Industry and LEED.

Janne Flisrand | Respond
December 19, 2008 11:56 AM PT

Cheryl -

Thanks for this information. Can you clarify whether the NAHB and NARI designations mean that they are members of the organizations, or whether they've earned the "Certified Green Professional" designation from the organizations?

If they are simply members, that is irrelevant to green building designation. If it is the latter, I hope you'll make this clear in the information you post on your website.

Cheryl Reed | Respond
December 19, 2008 12:29 PM PT

We ask for certified green professional designations for both.

Tools

Meet the Greenwash Brigade

Our hand-picked environmental professionals, each part of the Public Insight Network, are on the hunt for "greenwash" as they examine eco-friendly claims by companies, governments and other groups. They ask tough questions about the mainstreaming of green, from the perspectives of people in the trenches who are focused on these issues 24/7.

Jim Nicolow is a nationally recognized expert on sustainable design and leads the sustainability initiative for Lord, Aeck & Sargent, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm’s design projects. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with extensive knowledge of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

Janne K. Flisrand has worked as an affordable housing and urban planning research consultant for five years, primarily supporting local non-profits. Her focus is on transit, transit-oriented design, affordable housing, and sustainability. Currently, she’s the program coordinator for Minnesota Green Communities, a program promoting affordable, healthy, sustainably built housing throughout Minnesota.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano recently completed a Master's in Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He is now launching Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) to help individuals and institutions move from dependence on oil and gas to an efficient use of renewables. Previously, he co-founded SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), which aims to bring young progressives together across issues of environmental and social justice throughout North Carolina and beyond. In the summer of 2006, he helped to start a small green company, Greenway Pedicabs, to provide a greenhouse gas-free transportation option for people in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Heidi Siegelbaum is a principal with Calyx Sustainable Tourism and works primarily on advancing sustainable tourism practices. She also specializes in science translation, cross-border indicators with Canada, cross-disciplinary planning and environmental technical assistance to businesses. Previously, she was in-house legal counsel for EPA for industrial chemicals and biotechnology and the senior performance measure analyst with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She is on the technical advisory committee of the Seattle Culinary Academy and a long standing member of the Chefs Collaborative.

NOTE: The opinions expressed by the Greenwash Brigade bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of American Public Media or its employees. American Public Media is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Greenwash Brigade bloggers.

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