How to Market sustainability
"A claim is defined as any message or representation, not required by applicable law, that states or implies a positive impact on the environment. This includes text, images, graphic or symbolic representation, labels, brand names, company or product names."
EU Green Claims Directive
The upcoming EU Green Claims Directive will introduce severe sanctions for unfounded environmental claims
EU's new directive aims to make environmental claims reliable, comparable, and verifiable across the EU (EU 2023). When the directive comes into force, companies have to base their environmental claims and labels on robust, science-based, and verifiable methods. If not, the companies will face significant sanctions: the recommended maximum sanction for unfounded claims is up to at least 4% of a company’s turnover.
Benefits of Sustainability Marketing
Sustainability marketing and branding increase sales and foster a positive corporate image
Numerous studies prove that sustainability draws consumers' attention and affects their purchase decisions. When companies do sustainability marketing, consumers are ready to pay a premium price for their products (IBM 2022), and sustainable brands can grow faster than traditional competitors (Harvard 2019). Sustainability also affects the corporate image: According to Gartner's 2021 Hybrid and Return to Work study, 56% of employees said their desire to impact society increased during the pandemic (Gartner 2021).
Align Your Marketing with the New Directive
Strive for transparent and science-based marketing – With our help
Infine offers AI-supported Sustainability Analysis for evaluating product sustainability. The analysis uses existing product data to provide you with fact-based insights, from competitive advantages to risks and challenges, in nine sustainability dimensions. With the results and suggestions from our experts, you can continue benefitting from sustainability marketing with confidence or address the risks and put into action the potential improvements revealed by the analysis.
Sustainability Dimensions
Our software takes into account that sustainability is a complex and systemic issue by addressing product sustainability through nine dimensions. These dimensions include various aspects of ecological and social sustainability, including:
Decent work
Environment
Water use
Biodiversity
Climate change
Circular economy
Good business ethics
Sustainable consumer
THE GREEN CLAIMS ANALYSIS
Infine Green Claims Analysis combines our AI-supported Sustainability Analysis with the expertise of our sustainability specialists. First, we make a comprehensive evaluation of your product based on existing product data, after which our experts create suggestions for product-specific fact-based environmental claims. To increase your understanding of your product's actual sustainability features, we will go through the results and recommendations with you. Insights provided by the analysis will help you to prepare for upcoming legislation.
-
Sustainability Analysis
AI-supported science-based product sustainability analysis, reported as:
● Competitive sustainability features
● Basic level sustainability features
● Features requiring potential improvement
● Sustainability risks and challenges
● Relevance of the missing information.Before the analysis, we will ask you to fill in a Product Information form. If necessary we will enrich product information from other data sources.
-
Environmental Claims
We provide you fact-based textual suggestions of environmental claims to use as a base for your product’s sustainability marketing. We identify potential competitive sustainability features. If the product does not have competitive features, the suggestions offer an easy-to-grasp tips of the risks to tackle and potential improvements. These insights will help you to prepare for upcoming legislation.
-
Expert Hour
The service includes a meeting with our sustainability experts, during which we will go through the analysis and marketing recommendations made based on your product data.
Built for Your Needs
Easy
Get a clear report on the sustainability features of your product.
Effective
For the price of one consulting day, you get a comprehensive analysis to support your sustainability work in marketing and beyond.
Actionable
Prepare for the risks of Green Claims Directive sanctions by basing your advertising on science
FAQ
What types of products the service is for?
Infine Green Claims Analysis is available for FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) such as textiles, food and beverages, cosmetics, and household goods. If you would like to request a quote for other products, please contact us using the form below.
The service is optimal for one product or a small selection of products.
You say that the analysis is based on science. What does it mean?
Infine Sustainability Analysis is the result of an iterative development process combining scientific articles, established databases, and an expert panel. This means, that all data rules embedded in the evaluation model are based on science, and the evaluation criteria are developed by an established independent Sustainability Panel.
As sustainability is relative and a moving target, we constantly update our data model and the evaluation criteria – today's competitive level sustainability is tomorrow's compliance level sustainability.
What does the Sustainability Analysis tell me about my product?
The results of the analysis inform you about the level of sustainability of the product's different features, such as raw materials, manufacturing, and packaging. To help you to understand the results, we categorise the results into six evaluation classes:
Competitive sustainability: A feature of a product which is currently at a competitive level regarding sustainability. Exceeds the average level of sustainability in that particular feature.
Basic level of sustainability: A feature of the product that represents a basic level of sustainability, for example, by meeting minimum legal requirements and reducing harm at some stage of the product's life cycle. These characteristics do not yet differ from the general level in such a way that they could be considered competitive factors.
Potential improvement: A feature of the product that can be improved in terms of sustainability. The suggestions for improvement are general, i.e. the measures identified are not necessarily applicable to all product categories.
Sustainability issue or risk: A feature of the product that may include a sustainability issue or risk.
Critical missing data: Critical missing information, without which a comprehensive analysis of the product's sustainability cannot be provided. Includes product information that is essential for sustainability and should be obtained for the sake of transparency.
Non-critical missing data: Non-critical missing information, the absence of which is worth noting and which may be needed for future sustainability work.
What kind of product data is required for the service?
After placing the order, you will receive a link to the Product Information for the Green Claims Analysis form. Depending on your product, you will fill in data concerning one of the following product categories: textiles, food and beverages, cosmetics, and household goods. The questions are different in each category.
Depending on the category, the form may contain questions relating to the product's
- materials and ingredients
- manufacturing processes
- origin country and country of production
- certifications and audit ratings
- type of energy and energy efficiency in manufacturing
- water use in manufacturing
- packaging
- transportation.
Infine uses the product data as received from the customer on the Product Information form or other data source (eg. GS1 database). This analysis is not equivalent to an audit, and Infine accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the data or any damages arising from the use of the information contained in this report.
OUR SOLUTIONS HELP COMPANIES, BOTH BIG AND SMALL
Numerous companies have chosen our services for product sustainability management. We offer Sustainability Management SaaS to manage the sustainability of large product portfolios and Sustainability Analysis for single products. Our Green Claims Analysis aims to help especially with marketing and brand management.
Here are some of our SaaS and Analysis customers.
"I believe that before today, such an accurate view of sustainability has never been available. Not only does the software enable us to manage the sustainability of our portfolio and all our sustainability work, but it also provides us with the data we need for sustainability reporting."
Contact Us
Want to know more about us and our services? We are happy to hear from you.