A CSR watchdog? Ethiquette.ca sets the table for best practices

It should be easy to be an eco-friendly consumer, and on the plus side there is more choice than ever before. However there is now a rush of manufacturers looking to make up for lost time (and ground) in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and suddenly it seems almost everyone is promising a greener product or operating under new ethical standards as of 2010. What should a consumer do when they really do want to ensure that they purchase coffee from a company with a commitment to fair trade, or purchase an item of clothing that is truly made from organic cotton as the label claims? It can be a bit of a minefield and when choosing a provider for goods or services a consumer can spend a lot of time just trying to determine who the competition are and whether that company has truly implemented a CSR program or looking to leap on a bandwagon. There is however really good news if you prefer all your information to be in one place, and in truth who doesn’t?

For nearly five years Montreal based ethiquette.ca has dedicated itself to developing an online resource that assesses the green component of companies large and small. Debunking those that don’t stand up to scrutiny and embracing companies that put their CSR where their mouth is. Green ‘everything’ is now everywhere from taxis to dry cleaners, wine to shoelaces so consumers need to find a source for reliable and objective information about these manufacturers and service providers. Brenda Plant is a founder and MD of the company, she previously worked in the field of corporate social investment which gave her valuable insight. She noticed that consumers were being very considered with their spending and business decisions but often left confused as to which companies were operating under a label versus those who had developed and maintained an overall practice of responsibility.

“It’s very hard for a citizen who is busy with their work, their studies, their life or their family to also do all the research to find out whether a product is genuinely green and responsible or not, companies have definitely identified that consumers are interested. Companies see this as a very interesting market and they want to sell to it because they can make money there.”

Unfortunately there is reason for skepticism as a significant number of claims don’t stand up to the standards they are projecting. Claims that were unsubstantiated included products that didn’t meet energy star requirements to re-branding efforts with a ‘green’ phrase or motto when in fact the company had made no significantchanges to make them more energy efficient. Plant adds more details:

“You are getting more and more claims of green, or exaggerations of the green quality of products. Things will say ‘natural’ but natural doesn’t necessarily mean non-toxic. Natural is an unregulated term that can be quite misleading or doesn’t really say anything at all. Most of the time there’s no transparency on the part of companies giving information, like where the products are made and using what ingredients. That information is not readily available. Interpreting it is not always easy either.”

The company has four employees at present who go to great lengths to review the environmental and social efforts put forth by companies and the products that they may represent. Only if the standards they’ve assigned are met will they be added to the online database. It seems to be a fairly rigorous process but so far about 250 approved companies have been added while many more have applied for inclusion. Companies pay ethiquette a fee to cover the resultant costs of research to make the determination of approval. In addition the membership can be revoked if a company lowers their standards.

Evaluation is complex as Ethiquette reviews if a product is made with organic materials and where the product is actually made, the nature of the company that makes the product, and determines if the  company provides suitable working conditions for their employess. Any existing certification and is also checked and verified as a matter of course. Plant explains that the company and consumer that looks for their needs to be met by a company with a legitimate CSR program is extending trust to the provider and she wants to safeguard that. The site is performing well and growing consistently thousands of visits per month, quite unique in the level of detail provided within the Canadian market but a resource that I can see growing naturally.

I find the fact that they assign importance to the overall ethics of a company such as how they treat their staff and balance that within the overall ratings system shows a fresh approach – each part of a company’s practices do truly matter. This site has the potential to be a beacon in evaluating where to spend your dollars in the most ethical way possible.

Portions of the interview courtesy the Montreal Gazette.