When beginning to write my reviews I always challenge myself whether I should consider to merit certain products or technologies as "green" or just as plain technological improvements. To make my choice easier I have decided to convert to the next buzz word, namely "50 shades of green (coatings)" in order to introduce my topic. Market research companies these days seem to follow the same philosophy of a wide interpretation of the green color, at least it's the impression I get when I read their expectations of the future markets for green coatings. BASF & TÜV SÜD have developed an innovative mass balance approach for the use of renewable feedstocks in the integrated production. The process is available for a multitude of products and can be adapted to customers' requirements. Currently the main news flow about green coatings raw materials is constituted by so called bio-based drop-in chemical raw materials (or platform chemicals like butanediol or succinic acid) with an improved carbon footprint. Much less in the focus of the media are...