Rating Criteria

Litegreen helps us all dig beneath the surface of the brands and products we buy.

Why? Because with more information comes the power to make different and better decisions. Our starting point is information from the Ethical Consumer Research Association (ECRA) - a not for profit organisation formed in 1987.

Litegreen considers data from a range of categories including:

The planet…

  • Climate Change
  • Environmental Reporting
  • Habitat and Resources
  • Pollution and Toxics

Its people…

  • Human Rights
  • Supply Chain Policies
  • Workers Rights including exploitative use of child labour

We only approve companies with a reasonable record in each category.

We then apply a final Litegreen 'common sense' check to the information. For example, if we come across an additional source of data that is not covered by ECRA (e.g. CO2 emission figures for specific motor cars) then we may include this.

Achieving a Litegreen rating is not a guarantee of good practice.nor is failing to achieve a rating a judgement on a company.

But achieving a rating is a sign that, in our opinion, a company has a track record of doing things the right way

And buying through Litegreen sends a clear message to those companies that we like what they are doing and want to see more of it.

Around 70% of the companies we review achieve a Litegreen rating. We didn't set this figure as a cut off point. We just applied the criteria as it felt right to us and this is what came out the other side.

This means that we still have great choice as consumers.

We believe the best way to effect change is by encouraging and rewarding rather than criticising.

In rating companies Litegreen subscribes to data provided by the Ethical Consumer Research Association. Using this data Litegreen has developed its own rating system to reflect the core values of our ethos/brand –planet and people.

We assess companies independently of others in any company group they may belong to, for example, Body Shop is assessed independently from L’Oreal.

Litegreen does not necessarily define each rating category in the same way as ECRA.