The best place to find sustainable and socially responsible products, companies and resources.
--
Finding sustainable and socially responsible products is time-consuming. How do you know what a sustainable product is?
This article is a collection of the most trusted sustainability labels, certifications, and other useful resources to make the right choices and live an eco-friendly lifestyle.
Why does it matter?
We vote with our money. When buying sustainably, we divert money from destructive practices to advance positive change. Legacy products are carbon-intensive, fossil-based, full of plastic, single-use, use harmful chemicals, exploit labour, degrade our soil and end up in landfills.
Sustainable products are low-carbon, plant-based (vegan), plastic-free, multi-use, chemical-free, fair labour, regenerative, and circular. That’s what we need, deserve and demand. These products exist, and we find them for you! The higher the living standard of an individual, the higher their carbon footprint. This also means these individuals have the highest lever to change things and drive sustainable products into the mainstream.
Climesumer.com (Climate Consumer)
Climesumer.com helps individuals live the most sustainable lifestyle possible so that they can stop feeling helpless and feel empowered about climate change. 500+ resources in 12 categories make it easy to learn about climate change and to take effective individual climate action. Users find 🔄10k+ Sustainable Alternatives, 💸Green Deals, 🌱 A Climate Action Guide for individuals, 📚140+ Books, 100+ Podcasts, ✉️40+ Newsletters, 💼20+ Job Boards, 🤝40+ Climate Communities, 📰News Outlets, 🍿Movies & Documentaries, 🎯Reports, 💡Educational resources, 🚨Activist groups and tools get political and more.
Let’s dive deeper into sustainability labels that certify the products on climesumer.com and have a close look at my favourite websites below.
I ordered this list by impact category and tried to give useful short facts for each item. All the stated numbers were accessed on August 8th 2022. Enjoy!
Socially Responsible (& Sustainable) Labels
B Corp Certified:
B Lab is the nonprofit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet by scoring businesses holistically.
B Corp scores brands based on multiple social and sustainability metrics. Their scoring methodology is very rigorous and includes the following areas: community, customers, environment, governance and workers. Brands with a total score of a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 200 points are certified as a B Corp and can generally be assumed to do good.
B Corp in numbers:
Over 5.000 companies across 56 industries in 83 countries, founded in 2006
👉 Find brands and products (certified by B Corp)
Purpose Foundation (Steward owned companies)
Purpose is building the ecosystem for a more equitable and sustainable economy through steward ownership. It retools who holds control in companies and what motivates decisions by disrupting the relationship between power/money.
The concept of “steward-ownership” harnesses the power of entrepreneurial for-profit enterprise while preserving a company’s essential purpose to create products and services that deliver societal value and protect it from extractive capital.
The purpose foundation legally holds a 1% veto share without dividend rights. This share can block a sale of the company and any change to the charter that would undermine steward ownership. Learn more here.
Purpose foundation in numbers:
100 companies, 250 million activated capital, 100+ entrepreneurs educated, founded in 2015.
👉 Find brands and products (Certified by Purpose Foundation)
1% for the planet.
Companies that pledge to give 1% of their revenue back to environmental causes.
One Percent for the Planet was founded by Yvon Chouinard (founder of Patagonia) and Craig Mathews in 2002. Only 3% of total philanthropic giving goes to environmental causes; they want to change that. Their network brings together individuals, businesses and nonprofit organisations around the world to support people and the planet.
1% for the planet in numbers:
$350 million invested in environmental nonprofit solutions, 3,419 businesses 64 countries founded in 2002.
👉 Find brands and products (certified by 1% for the planet)
Founders Pledge
Community of company founders who pledged (legally binding) to give away at least 5 % or more of their equity after an exit to charity.
This one is more socially responsible rather than sustainable. Let’s assume that founders who pledge have good intentions.
Founders Pledge in numbers:
👉 Find brands and products (Certified by Founders Pledge)
Economy for the common good (ECG)
ECG is an economic model which makes the Common Good, a good life for everyone on a healthy planet, its primary goal and purpose.
It’s similar to the B Corp certification in that it tries to score business holistically. At the heart of this concept lies the idea that values-driven businesses are mindful of and committed to Human dignity, solidarity and social justice, environmental sustainability, transparency and co-determination.
ECG in numbers:
Climate Neutral / Positive Labels
Climateneutral.org
A label that certifies brands to be carbon neutral by measuring the impact, offsetting it and reducing it further.
Founded by Peak Design and Adventure gear company, their mission is to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and save 1b tonnes of emission by 2030. They use the following carbon offset standards:
Verified Carbon Standard, American Carbon Registry , Gold Standard, Climate Action Reserve.
Climate Neutral in numbers:
👉 Find brands and products (Certified by Climate Neutral)
Klima
A beautifully designed app that allows you to estimate and offset your personal carbon emissions with a monthly subscription (about 10€/month)
👉 Become carbon neutral and reduce your emissions further
Use code: SHHTMA to track our own climate movement.
Vegan
Vegan Society — The Vegan Trademark label
Vegan products certified by the vegan society. The oldest and most recognised label globally.
Vegan Society in numbers:
Over 60.000 certified vegan products in 79 countries, founded in 1990.
👉 Find vegan products (Certified by Vegan Society)
Vegan.org
Vegan products, certified by vegan.org.
Products with this logo have no animal products, no animal testing, no animal GMOs.
Vegan.org in numbers:
Over 11.000 certified vegan products, founded in 1995.
👉 Find vegan products (Certified by Vegan.or)
Blogs and Articles showcasing vegan alternatives
- 100+ Vegan Alternatives to Your Favorite Animal Products — Guide to Vegan
- Vegan Alternatives to Meat, Dairy, and Egg Products
- vegan food alternatives app — veganalternatives — app
- Vegan Alternative — Easily find vegan alternatives to animal products.
(my tool which lead me to build sustainablealternativeto.com)
Zero Waste / Plastic-free Labels
Flustix — Plastic free label
A label that certifies products for being plastic free, made from recycled plastic, or recyclable.
👉 Find plastic-free products (Certified by Flustix)
Unverpackt Map — Zero waste map
Map by Greenpeace that shows stores and locations that offer plastic-free and unverpacked (zero waste) alternatives as well as second-hand fashion info.
👉 Find Unverpackt (zero waste) stores and products/fashion
Precycle
Offset your plastic footprint with a monthly or yearly subscription. The money will directly go to waste workers around the globe that pick up plastic from beaches and other places.
Directories with plastic-free alternatives:
Circular / Pre-Loved / Renewed / Second-Hand
Cradle-to-cradle certified
Cradle to Cradle Certified® is the global standard for products that are safe, circular and responsibly made.
Cradle to Cradle Certified assesses the safety, circularity and responsibility of materials and products across five categories of sustainability performance:
Material health, product circularity, clean air & climate protection, water & soil stewardship, and social fairness. Learn more here.
👉 Find brands and products (Certified by C2C)
Faircado
Faircado aggregates listings from numerous (tech) second-hand sellers to give you the best price and help you find your favourite second-hand product faster.
They include listings from Rebuy, Backmarket, Refurbed and more.
👉 Find renewed tech fast and easy
Giftd
Second-hand fashion marketplace to gift and receive cloth
👉 Give your pre-loved fashion a second life
Vinted
Second-hand fashion marketplace to buy and sell cloth.
👉 Find and sell second-hand fashion
eBay Kleinanzeigen
Most popular second-hand marketplace for all categories in Germany
👉 Find and sell second-hand items
Circulee
Second hand IT equipment for companies.
👉 Find second-hand tech for companies
Recup & Rebowl
The biggest pfand / deposit system for multi-use coffee cups and bowls.
They replace single-use coffee cups and packaging with multi-use plastic alternatives with a deposit and many return partners.
If you liked this article, please consider climesumer.com. A one-stop shop for sustainable alternatives and more resources like newsletters, books, deals podcasts, about climate change and individual climate action.
About me:
I am a Berlin-based product manager and interaction designer dedicated to solving the climate crisis with meaningful technology.
I have a product management degree from CODE University, co-founded Susteyn, an indoor farming startup building office farms, and love using no-code tools.
Recently I launched climesumer.com, a climate action platform for individuals. 500+ resources in 12+ categories help anyone live the most sustainable lifestyle possible and take individual climate action. It’s built with Softr.io and Airtable.
Follow me and find all my projects and links here.
