http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/business/09offsets.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission held its first hearing in a series on green marketing, this one focusing on carbon offsets.

"As more companies use offset programs to create an environmental halo over their products, the commission said it was growing increasingly concerned that some green marketing assertions were not substantiated. Environmentalists have a word for such misleading advertising: "greenwashing.""

The FTC also questioned how much carbon dioxide can be neutralized by tree-planting, which is a common form of offsets.

New York Times, January 9, 2008

Submitted by M. Brooks