The economic downturn has removed any doubt that green efforts are a significant part of today’s marketing landscape.

Clearly, when companies maintain or bump up their commitment to green initiatives at a time when every dollar counts — maybe more than ever — it’s not a “nice-to-have,” “looks-good-in-the-annual-report” business objective.

Despite the economic fallout — which has marketers scrambling to cut expenses and keep every bit of revenue — most companies aren’t wavering on their sustainability efforts.

They’re sticking with them because it’s now part of the ante — the base from which customers begin to judge you. In truth, with today’s consumers so interested in controlling their carbon footprint, marketers can’t afford not to hold on to their sustainability efforts.

That’s good news — and bad news at the same time.

Why? Because for all the talk about greening up their campaigns, few marketers actually have pushed this initiative beyond the obvious. Yes, most are now tightening up their mailing lists, upping the percent of recycled paper in their mailings and relying on environmentally friendly inks. But look for those that have gone beyond these limited measures, and you won’t find many. Too few are looking at their complete carbon footprint, taking measures that will have a significant impact on the earth’s climate and relying on more than the basics.

The percentage of paper sent by mail that gets recycled is still woefully small. The number of companies looking to do business with local suppliers to save on trucking (and carbon) is still too few. We’ve conquered the basics, but haven’t moved much on the complicated stuff.

So, what to do? It’s evident that the initial criticism that businesses were doing this just to clean up their image was wrong. But it’s just as clear that the industry as a whole hasn’t truly embraced this movement. Not yet, at least.