Green marketing, international trade and the environment

Increasing consumer concerns about the environment effects of various products, especially in industrialized countries, have led to some form of response from manufacturers when advertising their products. Many products are now labeled as environmentally friendly, ozone friendly or CFC free. This paper examines the veracity of these claims with respect to the product's total environmental performance. The tendency towards paying attention to very little environmental issues in the total product is noted and the objective behind such claims - the bottom-line - drives many of these claims. This paper situates the 'green product' in the global context as many developing countries severly degrade their environments in order to satisfy the export market. Also, free trade requirements increasingly circumscribe or reduce the ability of countries to achieve meaningful environmental protection especially if the domestic rules are shown to discriminate against the import.