It may get much harder to jump on the green bandwagon unless companies can prove how they measure the “greeniness” of their products and services.

Reason: Congress is gearing up to define what green means. A House Energy and Commerce panel meets today to put a stop to greenwashing — making false or unprovable claims about green attributes of products and services.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), chairman of the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, is looking for legislative ways to define green marketing practices. Rush worries that consumers are being misled by a flurry of confusing green marketing claims.

He wants the Federal Trade Commission to impose standards that define what it takes to make an eco-friendly claim about a product, service or operation. Rush is responding to a greenwashing report that found that the number of products claiming to be green is increasing by 79% a year.

For hearing information and testimony, click here.

To eliminate greenwashing claims, the panel will focus on a study by the eco-marketing consultant firm, TerraChoice. The company’s report, the Seven Sins of Greenwashing, concludes that many green product claims misrepresent their supposedly environmentally friendly attributes. The report found that 98% of products reviewed committed at least one of the seven sins.

For example, TerraChoice says it’s misleading to claim that paper is green just because it was made from trees grown in a sustainable manner. The Seven Sins report notes that other more important factors are in play, including the type of energy used in the process, greenhouse gas emissions related to the making of the paper and the air and water pollution from pulp and paper mills.

Watch for legislation mandating third-party verification of green claims. Underwriters Laboratories has such a program.

Tags: eco-friendly, FTC, green products, greenhouse gas emissions, greenwashing, Rep. Bobby Rush, TerraChoice, Underwriters Laboaratories