Value Beyond Cost Savings - Green Building Finance Consortium

Appendix GSustainable Property Cost-Benefit ChecklistPotential Property Costs Description of Cost Applicability Analysis 120that make up an average energy savings. Consequently,if an owner cites averages in marketing their project, thereis a high likelihood that they will be wrong. 129There is also a substantial risk in presenting or promotinga project with unsupported claims in that capital providers,as part of their due diligence, often will uncover poorlysupported or misleading facts and statistics, thusundermining the credibility of all of the appropriatelyargued and supported information in a funding request.These risks can be mitigated through training of staff andthe development of protocols for reviewing marketing andpromotion materials. A good discussion of these andother issues can be found in “Selling and Governing theGreen Project: Owner Risks in Marketing, Entitlement andProject Governance,” Paul D. Arelli, Real Estate Issues,”Counselors of Real Estate, Vol. 33, No. 3, 2008. On asimilar note, unsubstantiated or over-stated claims madeduring the entitlement process can also lead to problems,and potentially be turned around on a developer bybecoming part of the requirement(s) of the developmentagreement.The Federal Trade Commission has published abrochure, “Complying with the Environmental MarketingGuides” that provides the FTC staff's view of the law'srequirements. The FTC Act gives the Commission thepower to bring law enforcement actions against false ormisleading marketing claims, including environmental or“green” marketing claims.The FTC issued its Environmental Guides, often referredto as the "Green Guides," in 1992, and revised them mostrecently in 1998. The Guides indicate how theCommission will apply Section 5 of the FTC Act, whichprohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices, toenvironmental marketing claims. Like other industryguides issued by the FTC, the Environmental Guides “areadministrative interpretations of laws administered by the283