The Green Claims Data Standard: Codifying Data Requirements for the Retail Industry

In the face of tightening consumer protection laws, including the UK's Green Claims Code, the accuracy of environmental claims has never been more scrutinised.

Brands who fail to comply with more stringent rules around what constitutes a valid green claim risk severe penalties, including legal action, hefty fines, and reputational damage.

These new updates are an essential and positive step towards a more sustainable future in the retail industry. But without clarity around how to comply with these requirements, brands remain hesitant to make claims—hampering progress toward the industry’s shared ambition for positive change.

To address this, Compare Ethics has produced the industry’s very first Data Standard—a reference document which recommends specific data criteria that can be used to substantiate the following types of green claims:

• Green content claims
• Resource-saving claims
• Durability claims
• Circularity claims

The guidance is based on a combination of our deep expertise in green claims compliance and collective insights from 24 major industry players—including Tesco, John Lewis, and New Look—who collectively generate over £151 billion in global revenue each year.