Shopping for cleaning products, diapers, electronics or beauty items? You may have noticed a new badge on some products across Amazon: the “Climate Pledge Friendly” label is making the site a little greener across many categories. What does this mean? How do sellers get “Climate Pledge Friendly?" If you want to learn more about the program, this blog will share the basics.
Eco-friendly Amazon
In 2019, Amazon co-founded an initiative called The Climate Pledge. This meant commitment to be net zero carbon across the Amazon business by 2040. Achieving this would put the company 10 years ahead of the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement. To support this, Amazon has moved toward a number of sustainability initiatives, such as electric vehicles, Frustration-Free Packaging, investing in green startups, and more.
The Climate Pledge Friendly label
In September 2020, Amazon launched the Climate Pledge Friendly label across its stores. The new program was made to make it easier for customers to discover and purchase more sustainable and eco-conscious products.
(Example of the Climate Pledge Friendly logo on an Amazon search results page.)
“Customers will now see the Climate Pledge Friendly label when searching for more than 25,000 products to signify that the products have one or more of 19 different sustainability certifications that help preserve the natural world, such as reducing the carbon footprint of shipments to customers,” said Amazon in the Day One blog.
Climate Pledge Friendly products are clearly labeled in Amazon search results. They also have additional sustainability information on the product's detail page, and are featured in a dedicated store.
What does it mean?
In order for products to receive the label, Amazon is working with 18 trusted third-party certifications, such as ENERGY STAR, and Fairtrade International. The range includes governmental agencies, non-profits, and independent laboratories, to help distinguish more sustainable products. These designations are reputable, transparent, and have a focus on preserving the natural world.
(Image from Amazon.com website.)
Amazon says it will routinely evaluate and reassess the certification landscape to ensure we include the best partners. Amazon also created its own certification called Compact by Design. The goal of this is to “identify products that, while they may not always look very different, have a more efficient design. With the removal of excess air and water, products require less packaging and become more efficient to ship.”
How can vendors and sellers become Climate Pledge Friendly?
The program is open to all Amazon vendors and sellers, and businesses are encouraged to apply. If your product has at least one of the certifications listed on the program’s page, including Amazon’s Compact by Design certification, it may qualify for the Climate Pledge Friendly program and receive the label on the website. Sellers should review the list of certifications. If your product already qualifies, you don’t need to change anything. Simply go to Vendor Central or Seller Central and file a contact us.
If you would like to apply for a certification, Amazon instructs sellers to find which ones match your product type or sustainability aspiration and work with the certifier directly. Amazon also receives updates from the certifiers themselves to identify Climate Pledge Friendly products, so once you are certified, you also shouldn't need to make any changes to your product data on Amazon to be included in Climate Pledge Friendly.
Compact by Design certification
Compact by Design is a slightly different approach. These products may not have external certification, but still feature a range of eco-friendly attributes. These include lightweight packaging, concentrated products, less air in containers, and more efficient shapes. “To qualify for Compact by Design, products must have best-in-class unit efficiency. We used product attributes such as item package dimensions, item weight, and the number of units to calculate the unit efficiency of a product,” says the Compact by Design website.
For Amazon Compact by Design certification, the process is simple. Amazon uses existing product attributes from the catalog to determine qualification. To be certified Compact by Design, a product must have a qualifying unit efficiency, be registered in the Amazon Brand Registry program, and be in an eligible category.
More information and assistance
For detailed information on these programs and the qualification criteria, visit www.amazon.com/ClimatePledgeFriendly or look for the Climate Pledge Friendly badge on qualifying products. For help with your catalog or applying to any Amazon program, please contact our experts at eCommerce Nurse.
