There is little doubt that an increasing number of big companies are becoming aware of the risks - and opportunities - to their business arising from climate change.
But it's a pity that while there are encouraging figures from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), whose recent report shows that more than half of the world's top 500 firms are trying to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, the number who are deemed to misleading potential customers is also rising.
A report in June by the Advertising Standards Authority says it's a "growing trend" for complaints to be made by the public - and upheld by the agency - against companies making unsubstantiated claims.
And it's not just smaller firms. It's big name groups such as Toyota, Volkswagon and Scottish & Southern Energy - firms you would have thought would know better than be associated with blatant greenwash.
Even Shell has chanced its arm with a picture of flowers growing out of a power station, suggesting that a tiny experiment with using CO2 to heat a greenhouse in Holland is something it does regularly.
But let's not be too gloomy. The findings of the CDP, a New York-based independent organisation which works with shareholders and corporations to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, really do show that progress is being made. The first time the organisation tried to interest major investors in the idea that they should be putting pressure on the companies they put their money into to provide information and action on greenhouse gas, they got support from institutions holding $4.5 trillion. That was in 2002, and five years later that figure had leaped to $41 trillion.
Equally, 80% of the public-owned companies that responded to this year's Global 500 survey made it clear that climate change offered opportunities and risks. And 95% of those who recognised the commercial risk are putting in place measures to counteract it.
There is a long way to go of course. Here in the UK, although response rates among FTSE350 companies to today's CDP survey were up from 49% in 2006 to 70% this year, there was also an increase in the number of respondents who did not want their disclosure made public. In addition, there was only the most microscopic response from any firms on "indirect" greenhouse gas emissions which is unfortunately optional under the current project rules.
Of the handful of companies that did respond to this - and good on BP and Shell for at least trying - there is already evidence that one million tonnes of CO2 is being created annually by UK companies' business travel. The real figure of course will be hundreds of millions, but it's a start to find the scale of the problem.
Another issue that clearly must be tackled is the desperate need for establishing common standards on what constitutes a carbon footprint. Few companies have truly credible reporting systems in place and carbon emissions need to be measured, accounted for and reported in a way that everyone must adhere to.
It's too easy for firms to make claims, as they do in their advertising. The good companies deserve to be rewarded, the bad penalised.
