More than ever before, retailers and shoppers want to be eco-friendly. This makes sense since the global surface temperature has risen by an average 0.17 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since 1901, and 2020 was the second warmest year to date. Consumers want to protect the environment from global warming, and so do sellers.
Now brands can better show their commitment to sustainable products with the help of Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly badge. Announced in the US in September 2020 (and later in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK in October), the badge strives to help sellers and consumers align on their environmental goals.
What is the Climate Pledge Friendly Program?
Climate Pledge Friendly is an Amazon certification program part of Amazon’s green initiative to power their operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025 and reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. The latter goal is part of The Climate Pledge to meet the Paris Agreement 20 years early.
So to incentivize sellers on its own platform to create sustainable products, Amazon partnered with third-party certifications and even created their own Compact by Design certification. Products with one or more of these certifications get the Climate Pledge Friendly badge. The badge is displayed on Amazon search results and product pages as pictured below:
In addition to being featured on products as they are found organically, shoppers can narrow their product search to Climate Pledge Friendly products only. This means brands have the opportunity to showcase their products to eco-conscious consumers, and eco-conscious consumers can tailor their product choices to their personal values.
Plus, qualifying products could make it onto the Climate Pledge Friendly storefront, where some products are highlighted by category and others get featured.
Climate Pledge Friendly items can be found across grocery, household, fashion, beauty, health, electronics, and computer and office products. The program is open to all vendors and sellers that operate on Amazon’s marketplace, and there is no fee to participate.
Benefits of the Climate Pledge Friendly Badge
Climate Pledge Friendly products rank higher on Amazon search result pages. So early adoption is important. The sooner a product certifies, the higher it will rank in the long run. Think of it as another form of search engine optimization (SEO).
Plus, sustainability and green marketing are powerful trends right now. Consider the following statistics reported by NielsenIG:
- In 2018, 48% of US consumers said they would definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment.
- Since 2014, sustainable product sales have grown at a 3.5% compound average growth rate (CAGR).
- By 2021, the market for sustainable fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) is expected to grow to $150 billion.
No doubt, the consumer market for sustainable products is growing and only expected to get bigger. By creating and marketing your products as eco-friendly, you can build and maintain brand values with proof. Instead of telling consumers you want to support the environment, you can show them.
While some criticize green marketing for giving larger companies that can afford the extra costs of green initiatives an unfair advantage over smaller competitors, the Climate Pledge Friendly badge allows even small brands to work towards sustainability.
Ultimately, the Climate Pledge Friendly badge shows consumers that your brand is trustworthy, caring, responsible, and planning for the future. That message resonates with millennials and younger generations especially, and having the Climate Pledge Friendly badge is an easy way to connect with them. With so much competition in ecommerce, supporting the right cause could be essential to standing out.
How to Get the Climate Pledge Friendly Badge
To get the Climate Pledge Friendly Badge, your products will need to be registered with a qualifying certification. Look for a certification that best suits your products and values. Each certification has different requirements and costs associated with them, and you will need to reach out to the certification body directly to apply and become certified.
Once your product is certified, the certification body will provide input to Amazon that will update your products with the Climate Pledge Friendly Badge. If you have a qualified certification, but the Climate Pledge Friendly Badge is not displayed, you can contact Amazon Vendor Central, Seller Central or work with your Pattern brand management team to make sure the badge is added.
What is Compact by Design?
Compact by Design is Amazon’s own certification program that focuses on efficient product design and packaging. It requires products to be efficient in their shape, concentration, and weight, and minimal in their packaging. By eliminating excess air and water, Compact by Design products can help reduce carbon emissions.
To evaluate products, Amazon measures them by their “unit efficiency,” where a unit is the total amount of product in a container. Unit efficiency is calculated as (cubed volume/unit) x (weight /unit). For example, a 16 fl. oz. liquid soap that is 20 cubic inches in size and 1 pound in weight would have a unit efficiency of 0.078125.
Amazon sets unit efficiency thresholds for over 100 different product categories. Products that pass their relevant unit efficiency threshold qualify as Climate Pledge Friendly. In the example above, the liquid soap’s 0.078125 unit efficiency falls under the 0.207686259 threshold for liquid soaps, so it would not qualify.
Do the math on your own products. They may already qualify as Compact by Design. If so, make sure they are registered in the Amazon Brand Registry program. Amazon uses existing product data from their catalog to automatically determine eligibility.
If your product does not qualify, consider how you can make future products more unit efficient or how you can update the production of your product going forward. You can get there with careful design.
Working with Pattern
Here at Pattern, we understand how important it is for brands to tell their story. The Climate Pledge Friendly badge is another way to do just that, to tell who you are and what makes you different.
If your product qualifies as Climate Pledge Friendly but you don’t see the badge, Pattern can push the process along in Seller Central. If your product packaging needs an updated design, Pattern can help with that too. (We’ve even won awards for it.)
If your product is certified by a group not included in the Climate Pledge Friendly program, we can help them submit a request for consideration. This is especially relevant for international brands, who may have certifications from around the world. Amazon is steadily working to add more certifications to its program, like EU Ecolabel, Blue Angel, and Nordic Swan. But in the meantime, Pattern can help.
So if you’re ready to get the most out of Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly program, contact us today and we’ll help you through the process.
