Amazon launches badge for products with environmental certifications

Thousands of products on Amazon will be given a new badge to show that they are climate friendly as the retailer pledges to give customers more control over the environmental impact of what they buy.

The Climate Pledge Friendly scheme will roll out in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK, having already launched in the US last month.

The badge will mean that a product has at least one of 18 different well-known external sustainability certifications, or Amazon’s own certification Compact by Design.

The certifications include the Forest Stewardship Council, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Nordic Swan and the Responsible Wool Standard, among others.

Amazon’s Compact by Design certification is given to the products that “remove excess air and water, which reduces the carbon footprint of delivery and packaging”.

Around 40,000 products will be given the new Climate Pledge Friendly badge.

However, Amazon’s own Compact by Design has the lion’s share of the Climate Pledge Friendly products currently listed on the site.

According to an Amazon search, “over 7,000” products on the site have the certification, compared with 5,067 for all remaining certificates combined.

One of the certifications, Organic Content Standard 100, only appears to have three products with its label listed on Amazon.

Responsible Wool Standard had 13, Carbon Reducing had 12, and Carbon Free Certified had 38.

Three have no listing at all yet.

In fact it seems that none apart from Amazon’s own certificate has more than 760 products on the site – the highest is Forest Stewardship Council, with 756.

Amazon said it will be adding more certifications and working with brands and manufacturers to add more products over time. It said the range of brands is a good start, but just the beginning.

It has chosen certifications that are rigorous and transparent, with a focus on preserving the planet. Few products currently meet that bar, it added.

Dario Soto Abril, chief executive of Fairtrade International, said: “I look forward to seeing it launch in Europe, and hope it encourages even more brands to source more sustainably and certify their products so we can continue to drive positive impact that benefits farmers, workers and our shared environment.”

Eco-conscious customers will be able to go to a dedicated section of Amazon’s website to find certified products.

Amazon said it is working with more certification programmes to add their products to the scheme.

“Climate Pledge Friendly is a simple way for our customers to discover more sustainable products that help preserve the natural world,” said Doug Gurr, Amazon’s UK boss.

“With 18 external certification programmes and our own new Compact by Design certification, we’re incentivising selling partners to create sustainable products that help protect the planet for future generations.”

Amazon has pledged to be “net zero” by 2040, and will run on 100% renewable energy by 2025, it has said.