Cleaning up greenwashing
Sustainability data platform Provenance is working with leading retailers such as Holland & Barrett and Ocado to help them avoid ‘greenwashing’ as legislation has come into force and shoppers are increasingly concerned about the ingredients in the products they buy.
To get to this point of working with over 370 retailers and brand owners – predominantly in the beauty space – has been a long and winding road for Provenance that pivoted from its early model. It was too early in the market and the scope of its objectives undoubtedly too expansive.
Early to the party
Jessi Baker (pictured), founder of Provenance, says the business was effectively building a DPP (Digital Product Passport) but was way ahead of its time back in 2014 when the business was founded. The idea was to track the full journey of individual products through the entire supply chain whereby you could trust all the data on the item’s production.
Never Miss a Retail Update!“We were using blockchain and were very early to the party. We were over-engineering it. In 2014 we were doing trials with the EC (European Commission) on different products to create a DPP. We pivoted away from this approach because it was ludicrous at that time. Now, or even next year, is probably the best time to launch DPPs,” she suggests.
The pivot meant moving away from focusing on individual products and their whole journey to instead consider the SKU-level and to double-down on the green claims made on products. Specifically the areas people care most about such as whether they are tested on animals and are vegan. Baker says this shift in the model still adheres to the original vision and mission of Provenance to “empower citizens to shop with values” and not be fooled by made up marketing – now termed greenwashing – by providing transparency and credible information.
Focusing on beauty
The plan has been to prove the new model in one category and this has been beauty. The first brand to sign up was Cult Beauty and since then many small DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) brands such as Faith in Nature and Weleda have come on-board. More recently Provenance has also been working with multi-brand retailers including Holland & Barrett, Ocado and THG.
The timing on this pivoted approach is much better because the company’s work has coincided with the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) introducing the Green Claims Code. This can result in unsubstantiated green claims hitting brands and retailers with fines of up to 10% of their sales. “It’s now very regulated and we see lots of mistakes being made and we want to help brands avoid greenwashing,” says Baker.
The Provenance solution uses AI to scan marketing materials and help companies identify any risks from the claims being made about products on their website – this could be third-party brands or own-label. To highlight the scale of the issue she points out that among the seven largest grocers there will be on average four claims being made per product they are selling.
Substantiating green claims
“It’s insane. As many as 40% of them are high risk claims such as being eco-friendly and made from 100% recycled materials,” she says, adding that Provenance will help them by recommending language changes for their materials and substantiating the claims.
The latter involves connecting to certification databases such as Cruelty Free International and the Soil Association and looking to match the claims being made. The company can help brands get the certification if they want it. For the likes of H&B they would request Provenance goes to the third-party brands and gets them to check their claims.
The third strand of the Provenance solution is an API that organisations can plug in and it provides a data trail behind any claims made on products. “We’ve built a database on brand and product-level sustainability claims,” says Baker. Retailers and brands can place a link on their websites to the relevant data in the database and also use it as part of their filtering when customers search for products online.
Adding value for brands
Baker says Provenance is a value-add for brands because once a claim has been substantiated then it can be utilised across various retailers through which they sell their goods. This has become more valuable as multi-brand retailers are increasingly asking third-party brands to substantiate any claims they make. This has become especially important around packaging where recycling claims are rampant.
To help large multi-brand retailers manage third-party claims in an organised way Provenance is working closely with the BRC (British Retail Consortium) and its initiative the Retailer Green Claims Forum that has the objective of promoting a joined-up approach to dealing with green claims.
A key aspect of the initiative is to enable brand owners to supply just one notification substantiating their claims and that this is then accessible to all the retailers. This process is being officially launched on June 24 and initially has five large retailers on-board. Such a collaborative approach is very much supported by the CMA and therefore retailers do not run the risk of any illegal activity through this shared approach to addressing green claims and avoiding greenwashing.
Maintaining trust
Large retailers clearly need to ensure they are not at risk of any CMA fines but most important, according to Baker, is the need to retain the trust of customers. This is the chief driver of brands and retailers engaging with Provenance.
Although she says the Trump administration has effectively pushed sustainable down the agendas of organisations and the corporate side of things such as journeys to carbon-zero have “taken a beating” there remains in the UK and the rest of Europe an important customer segment that wants to buy on brand values.
