With the media saturation of the global warming issue and the Green Party taking key seats at the Cabinet table, the general awareness of environmental issues has never been greater in Ireland.

But where there is a mass of undifferentiated information, there is a need to organise it effectively. That's the opportunity Don Coughlan, publisher at Coop Ireland, a media cooperative serving the green business sector, thinks he's spotted.

In October, Coughlan and his eight Coop partners will distribute 250,000 copies of their 300-page "Green Pages", which they're billing as an A-Z guide to green products and services. Like the Golden Pages, only green.

"Understanding of environmental issues has moved beyond the public . . . there are still people who don't really know even what a compost bin is or how a solar panel works, " he says. "The idea of the Green Pages is to provide a reference to the information behind this stuff."

The once a year guide will be one part listing and one part content play, with chart-based information about energy use and the like in conjunction with a company directory. Over 80% of the advertisers are small providers . . . builders, plumbers and electricians who are diversifying into the previously uncharted territory of solar panels, wood chip boilers and recycled insulation.

Most of the real financial muscle, however, is coming from the Green Pages' three main sponsors . . . the department of the environment, Permanent TSB and Greenstar . . . which have each contributed a "substantial" five-figure sum to the venture, according to Coughlan, for a total of 140,000 between the three.

The department of the environment kicked in 25,000 via its environmental and heritage awareness arm, Enfo. The money will pay for advertising space in the guide for various department initiatives, including the Tidy Towns competition and changes in building regulations. An environment spokesman said the department would not be endorsing any product advertised in the Green Pages, but rather the general promotion of green business and the green agenda with the aim of influencing consumer behaviour.

"I don't see endorsement as an issue, " Coughlan says. "The companies that are advertising are playing a very transparent role in the provision of their services.

"At the start of the curve there are very basic products and services, so the message from the advertising isn't complicated, " says Coughlan. "It's not about treehugging or greenwashing at those levels . . . that happens when corporate play catch up."

It's an issue that Coughlan and his partners have obviously considered though, since their next venture is the establishment of a Green Business Forum alongside the Green Pages. The group would, he says, provide a comprehensive lobbying platform for the emerging green sector, as well as set necessary standards in an area which has none. Coughlan is in "initial discussions" with NGOs in the sector, the Small Firms Association, Isme and Ibec and expects to develop a framework for the association between the launch of the guide and the Christmas holiday.

Coughlan isn't making grandiose claims anyway, preferring to emphasise Coop Ireland's narrow focus on promoting the sector . . . while admitting the process won't be complete right at the launch.

"In the first year credibility policing won't be as strong as in subsequent years, " he says. "We need to establish credibility in the marketplace and learn the full scale of the green economy."