Ecolabels & Certifications: Are they worth it?
You have a craving for chocolate so you walk into a newsagent and start browsing the shelves. Being mindful about how you buy, you look for a label, or badge, something to indicate that the chocolate bar you’re about to buy has been produced in line with your social & environmental values. You narrow it down to three choices: one with a Fairtrade logo, another with the Organic label and a third with the Rainforest Alliance emblem on the wrapper. Which do you choose?
Herein lies part of the problem. There are too many ecolabels and certifications and they all have different assessment criteria. The Eco-Label Index tracks 456 of them across 199 countries and 25 industries.
Labels and certifications are voluntarily acquired and indicate that certain environmental and/or social standards have been met. They’re intended to help you make informed decisions and can cover a variety of elements such as energy efficiency, environmentally-friendly ingredients, fair pay and working conditions, water conservation, waste reduction etc.
On the face of it they sound helpful, but if you look behind the symbols and labels, you’ll find that whilst a big handful of them are based on well-run schemes, too many are awarded by unregulated, profit-making organisations.
As a business, how do you decide whether to apply for one and which are best to apply for?
In this article we’ll go through the pros and cons of eco-labels in general and finish with a recommendation for two labels we think are worth their salt from a carbon perspective.
The benefits of eco-labels
Raising awareness
Eco-labels can help raise awareness about particular environmental and social issues relating to a product or service. An example of this is the Fairtrade label. This is awarded to producers and businesses that have met independently verified, internationally agreed standards that support the protection of the environment as well as human and labour rights. Fairtrade has opened our eyes to a range of unfair and unacceptable practices that occur behind the scenes of products such as bananas, tea, chocolate and coffee.
How bad are bananas? Not too bad, particularly if they adhere to Fairtrade standards.
Differentiation
For a business, eco-certifications offer a way for them to differentiate their products or services from their competitors. Energy Star is a well-known accreditation that is synonymous with energy efficiency. Labels like this can help attract environmentally-aware customers and potentially increase sales.
Demonstrate transparency and build trust
Certification should require meeting third party criteria which can help businesses provide an increased level of transparency to their customers. It offers reassurance that their business, product or service has been independently verified and meets certain standards. The EU Ecolabel is a third party certified ISO 14024 Type I ecolabel that has existed for over 30 years. The strength of this label is the robustness of its standards meaning it can genuinely help people distinguish the most environmentally friendly products available on the market.
The EU Ecolabel is a long-running, label with rigorous standards.
The downsides of ecolabels
Greenwashing!
Sadly, many accreditations aren’t rigorous enough or only focus on one narrow aspect of a company or product (such as organic ingredients or energy efficiency) ignoring other considerations. This can lead to a misrepresentation of their environmental credentials.
In addition to this, some accreditations may have very lax verification procedures, allowing companies to obtain them without providing sufficient evidence of action on environmental or social issues.
Too many labels
With a staggering of 450+ labels in circulation, a level of ‘label fatigue’ has set in. There are so many certifications competing for our attention that customers will simply default to their normal choices because there are too many to know what they all mean. This highlights the importance of choosing a label that your customer will recognise and understand.
Time & Cost
It can cost a business a significant amount of time and money to acquire and maintain certifications. It is therefore worth considering what you could achieve with that time and money if you didn’t invest it in ticking boxes on an ecolabel registration form. Could you make meaningful and lasting changes to your business that would be more impactful and simply communicate those instead?
Inconsistencies
There can be a lack of uniformity in the application of criteria between organisations and regions making it difficult for customers to compare products across different countries.
Certifications that get ecollective’s stamp of approval
B Corp
Any company can test their business against the B Corp criteria
B Corp certification is one of the accreditations ecollective rates most highly. It’s more holistic than just an eco-label as it evaluates a company’s commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. Their standards are also incredibly transparent - any company can work through the questionnaire to see how many points they can accrue against their criteria. Assessment covers governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
Whilst there have been a few media storms (Brew Dog and Havas, to name two), B Corp certification is widely recognised as a solid indicator of a company’s commitment to ethical business practices and it is well-respected by investors.
The reason we like B Corp so much is because of its transparent nature, its rigour and the fact that it looks for continuous improvement from the companies it certifies. Businesses must recertify every 3 years and look to improve on their previous score.
Of course there are time and financial costs to consider. Also, B Corp, whilst widely known in sustainability circles, isn't recognised in all markets or industries. Critics may also argue that there’s too much emphasis on policies, procedures and commitments rather than tangible impact but this isn’t our experience.
Science Based Targets initiative
The SBTi is another body we rate highly. They only focus on greenhouse gases and validate company Net Zero targets by confirming they are based on the latest climate science and aligned with limiting global warming according to the Paris Agreement.
Their process is complex and focused on large corporate businesses making it less accessible to smaller businesses. However, their badge provides real weight to a company’s Net Zero target thanks to their transparent and tough process.
What we like the most is that it is focused on what you are going to do, not what you have done. Each year, you have to hit your targets to stay onboard or risk having your commitment downgraded on their website.
Achieving SBTi validation is more time-consuming than B Corp and less recognised by the public however it is a firm favourite with investors.
How ecollective can help
ecollective has already helped a number of companies gain B Corp certification. We know the climate section inside out. For SBTi our measurements are in line with their requirements making it an optional next step after we have measured your footprint.
