The first meeting of the Marketing Society May Day Alliance aims to establish guidelines that could pre-empt rulings currently being drawn up by the government.
The Marketing Society May Day Alliance is a partnership between the Marketing Society and the Prince's May Day Network, a group of businesses committed to taking action to tackle climate change.
If successful, the new body could play a campaigning role similar to that of Project 10, a drinks industry initiative that aims to encourage responsible marketing.
On the agenda at the meeting, which is being held at The Engine Group, is whether a focus on carbon emissions is the most effective way to communicate green credentials.
Former B&Q marketing director Jo Kenrick, who is leading the project, said: 'Carbon footprinting is an interesting way, but not the only way, to look at the issue. For some activities, carbon is irrelevant.'
She suggested that water and energy use could also be helpful indicators of a brand's environmental record and questioned whether 'normal, ordinary people' understood what carbon emissions meant.
'I'm asking marketers to come together and see if we can find two to three simple terms that we are prepared to use,' said Kenrick.
A shift away from the use of the term 'carbon' in marketing campaigns would go against what many brands are already doing. Walkers and Tesco, for example, both display the Carbon Trust's Carbon Reduction Label on their products.
The Alliance will hold regular meetings and workshops to bring together influential marketing and business people to discuss the environmental issues that affect everyday lives and the action that can be taken by those in the marketing community to combat climate change.
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