A sustainability ratings system which scores items based on their producers’ gender pay gaps, carbon emissions and ‘fat cat pay gaps’ has secured its first major retail rollout.
Impact Score ratings will be applied to more than 600 food, drink, household and personal products available on retailer Zest Organic’s website.
As well as scoring a product’s carbon emissions, Impact Score also rates items on its brand’s UK tax payments, adoption of the real living wage, prompt payment of suppliers, gender pay gap and the pay gap between their CEOs and employees.
The system contains the sustainability credentials of 100,000 businesses, 12,000 brands and 280,000 supermarket products.
The ratings will be displayed alongside other product information on the Zest website.
“I founded Zest to make a tangible difference to the world by offering healthier, more earth-friendly everyday choices to people everywhere,” said Umut Bilgen, Zest Organic founder. “It is an embodiment of the belief that we can make the world a better place to live, one choice at a time. Because of this, Impact Score makes so much sense.”
“We all have a responsibility to do better for the planet – retailers, customers and brands. And Impact Score is making that easier for us all,” he added.
The creation of Impact Score was sparked by the release of the Panama Papers in 2016, when its founders “got mad”. In partnership with the maths and applied sciences team at the University of Chester, who developed weightings and formulas to transform the data into a single score, an app was launched in 2019.
“Greenwashing is a problem and shoppers are wary,” said Impact Score confounder Ian Yates. “In a YouGov poll we commissioned, 64% said they do not trust a company to publish unbiased data about itself. And our app users consistently tell us they want brands and retailers to be more transparent.
“That is why we are thrilled to work with Zest and their suppliers, ensuring their products have credible sustainability claims, backed by independent verification. It also helps them recognise where and how they need to improve,” Yates added.
The company made its data available on a brand-facing platform called Clara earlier this year. The platform will soon include product pricing and promotional data along with shopper purchasing activity.
“If we can help brands develop and sell more sustainable products, which in turn helps shoppers make simple changes that are better for their families and the planet, then we all win,” Yates said. “And while cost is a key consideration right now, sustainable consumerism is only going in one direction, and companies that delay are risking their future. They can’t market themselves out of this one.”
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