Make An Impact Podcast

Checking sustainability claims and fighting greenwashing with Abbie Morris

October 07, 2020 Heidi Fisher Season 3 Episode 6
Make An Impact Podcast
Checking sustainability claims and fighting greenwashing with Abbie Morris
Show Notes

Abbie Morris is co-founder and CEO of Compare Ethics, a platform which connects conscious shoppers with brands which are ethical and sustainable, rather than brands pretending to be.

She launched Compare Ethics because of her own lack of trust at many brands' claims and her frustration about greenwashing and purpose-washing.

Compare Ethics measures claims about sustainability, environmental impact and other frequently-championed areas of responsible business.

It assesses each claim against 10 categories including products' supply chains, resource-use, workers' rights and even the circular economy, and calls out false claims.

In this episode Abbie explains how Compare Ethics' assessment and verification process works; its approach to data; how it measures its own impact and its campaigning plans and ambitions.

Timings:

  • 0 - 1:00 Introduction
  • 1:00 What is Compare Ethics and why Abbie launched it
  • 3:01 How does its verification product work and some of the categories it maps
  • 4:00 How the categories are weighted and what it means if a brand scores well
  • 6:52 Are consumers influencing brands to make these changes? What about the 'David Attenborough effect'?
  • 8:01 Sometimes Abbie is shocked when data or evidence isn't available – but this can become an opportunity to improve and build value
  • 10:05 One of Abbie’s biggest highs (so far) in Compare Ethics' journey was being selected for Google's female founders programme
  • 11:16 How Compare Ethics measures its own impact
  • 12:17 A question Heidi always asks when helping to develop a Theory of Change
  • 13:28 How Compare Ethics assesses brands’ supply chains and approach to modern-day slavery
  • 15:34 Campaigning work and plans
  • 18:30 Abbie's key advice for consumers

What next?