• The climate crisis is on track to push one-third of humanity out of its most liveable environment.
• As greenwashing continues, human rights and conditions face greater threats.
• Fair Start Certification ensures that institutions are supporting policies that are child-centric and eco-centric.

Many entities claim to promote certain values. They tout social responsibility with empty commitments to underserved communities or the planet. But their silence on just and sustainable family planning and support for unsustainable growth policies is undoing the progress that they otherwise proclaim. Instead, they are participating in greenwashing as children and resources continue to be exploited at a greater scale than what their good deeds and programs attempt to solve. 

While we think of greenwashing as coming from companies, it’s the case that nonprofits, academics, governments,  and others – all influenced by money – greenwash, and in deadly ways. The Lanham Act, tort litigation, federal and state agency and attorney general complaints   – tied to climate loss and damage cases – will target ecosocially relevant claims made in any context, because greenwashing comes from business, charities, media (like the New York Times), politicians, academics, etc. all of whom are financially benefiting from their dishonesty. Our Tell the Truth campaign exposes this greenwashing. 

 

“This  work has saved more than X million acres of endangered forests.”

Those claims are misleading because companies making the claims otherwise drove the demand, which is driving the climate crisis, now likely to destroy those forests and kill millions, via a means of making money that caused a lot more other harms. 

Ask anyone claiming to promote sustainability to tell the truth. 

Greenwashing allowed entities to get away with destructive practices that brought us into the climate crisis that we now face. 

Most sustainability claims omit their impact on growth and how they influence growth policies. Unsustainable growth has (1) undone roughly three-quarters of the reductions in carbon and other pollution achieved since 1990 and is now killing and infants around the world, and (2)  prevented the world from reaching key sustainable development goals. That undoing is harming children today, and will contribute to the death of millions as the climate crisis accelerates.

The relevant claims and omissions intentionally minimize climate reparations owed in order to benefit those at the top at massive to cost to others, and in a way that now threatens millions who are least responsible for the climate crisis.

Ending the Greenwashing Lies

Fair Start certification is the antidote to the exploitation of the most vulnerable – nonhumans and future persons – as the most just and effective solution to the crises we face today. That is how we achieve fundamental justice for every person born and for future generations.  

Rather than minimizing the harm created, we correctly use a standard that: 

1) Uses international human rights law, not purely domestic standards, which is required for the climate crisis – but in a way that includes domestic remedies

2) Sets the highest standard for climate reparations rather than undercutting victims’ claims

3) Mandates direct family-based reparations, which have the greatest impact

4) Corrects the baseline error or fallacy discussed above, including climate migration and pro-labor/equity employment policy changes. 

Fair Start Partners with LEED certification Founder Mike Italiano for Fairness Certification Pilot

The Fair Start Movement works to ensure that the climate and other accelerating global environmental crises do not deprive children of their inherent and fundamental right to live and thrive on a habitable Planet.

The Fair Start Certification is a human rights certification designed to keep entities honest and to expose this greenwashing. The certification is in partnership with green capital markets initiatives and the founders of LEED building certification, for higher green standards for public companies. Why? Effective ecosocial justice starts with ending greenwashing lies and deadly omissions.

 

Fair Start Pilot Standards

With restorative justice as the goal, the program requires stark carbon reduction, climate restoration, materials reuse/circularity, family planning entitlements and significant  investments in young women.

Prerequisites

• Companies must achieve 70% carbon pollution reduction above the 2020 corporate baseline with credit for up to 100% reduction achievement / zero carbon emissions.  Seventy percent is 10% above the Green IPO prerequisite.  Companies must meet other Green IPO pollution reduction prerequisites moving towards climate restoration at 280 ppm CO2, with credit for up to 100% reduction achievement.
• Companies must achieve 20% reuse / circularity minimum with credit for up to 100% reuse.  Reuse counters growthwashing. 
• Companies must adopt at least one public policy that favors climate restoration at 280 or less ppm CO2 via equitable family planning entitlements, both international and domestic, over current and unsustainable pronatal policies.  This can include young girls since the greatest investment society can make is in young girls by advancing their education and family planning awareness, since their vitality and knowledge affects responsible growth the most.

Optional Credits

• Companies move away from greenwashing, and especially growthwashing, and adopt growth-impact disclosure requirements in ESG reporting frameworks.  [3 pts]
• Companies implement pay-per-child standards to avoid small families subsidizing larger ones, models that make some discretionary employment benefits that flow to the children of employees more equitably by making them inverse to wages.  [4 pts]
• Companies publicly promote more equitable and sustainable family planning practices, when making environmental and related claims, to avoid and offset growthwashing.  [3 pts]
• Fund required climate migration as a very realistic necessity. Families can withdraw some funding for climate migration if needed, and we can bend this more towards young women’s education which is a proxy for delayed fertility.  https://fairstartmovement.org/life-saving-climate-reparations-in-uganda/  [5 pts]

General Information & Requirements

Companies achieving this Fair Start Green IPO Pilot earn up to 15 added points for their corporate underwriting Green IPO Value Score.  The Score is 25-100 and measures increased cash flow from sustainability over any company’s global supply chain.

Up to three-year stepwise certification approaches are available to achieve these preceding requirements and credits through an executed certification agreement.

The Green IPO Underwriting Standard requires each certified company to:

• Publicly disclose on a website, a transparent summary of the Certification
• Execute a legally-binding certification that the Information provided for the Green IPO Certification is accurate, not misleading, and prepared by qualified professionals pursuant to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Green Guides also enacted verbatim in California by statute.
• Required recertification every three years 

For more Green IPO background:  https://www.capitalmarketspartnership.com/copy-of-about

For Higher-Rated Green Property Bonds:  https://www.capitalmarketspartnership.com/higher-rated-green-and-resilient-building-bonds