The opinions expressed here by Trellis expert contributors are their own, not those of Trellis. Sustainability may be experiencing scarcity these days, but one thing remains abundant: sustainability certifications. With more than 450 listings on the Ecolabel Index, a global directory of environmental certifications, there have never been more choices for companies to dress up their brand. As the leader of a nonprofit that administers sustainability certifications, I’ve seen how they help increase customer trust, bolster communications and offer templates for critical operational decisions. They can seal the cracks of regulation and policy by encouraging companies to go beyond minimum requirements across virtually any dimension, from waste management practices to worker welfare. But given the large number of options, it’s difficult to build a certification portfolio. No one size fits all, even within a single product category. Brands like Seventh Generation, Stonyfield Farms and Equal Exchange each boast as many as six labels, whereas their peer brands Pampers, Chobani and Dunkin’ lean very little on third-party certifications. And while McKinsey & Co. has found evidence that more is better (up to a point), practical constraints, such as budgets, time and physical packaging space, limit the overall number of certifications that a given company might reasonably achieve. As you consider your own portfolio of sustainability certifications, here are some considerations that will help. 1. Understand the certification landscape Since the goals and scope vary widely from one certification to the next, it helps to sort them into high-level groupings. First, consider…
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