Ekko Score makes it easier for anyone to understand quickly and easily which products are sustainable and good for the planet. The Body Care Categories scores are the first to display on ekko.world. Food & Drink and Fashion categories will be added from April 2020.
Everything you need to know about how a product was made is discoverable. You just need to know how to get it and make sense of it. That's what Ekko Score does. We have worked with RMIT University to develop the Ekko Score algorithm and are continuing to work with them as we develop the artificial intelligence and automation of the score ongoing. We use certifications and declarations as the key part of the algorithm because they are a globally recognised, have excellent frameworks and are a well researched and well understood way to describe a product's credentials. The certification framework is also common to all products and claims, both formally certified and self declared and both are subject to law, thereby protecting both consumers and traders.
The algorithm has been developed by computer scientists who use the advice of environmental subject matter experts to rank and weight certifications to create the score. With this combination of extensive information about products and the algorithm, this is how a trader, by declaring their product's certifications, gets a score. A product achieves an 'eco footprint score' against each standard and an overall score.
We do not do Reviews of products and we do not in any way score how well a product performs. We don't evaluate marketing claims, even as our commentary might be critical at times about marketing or misleading PR.We do not engage in affiliate marketing or paid promotion.
This means that there is limited opportunity for omissions. Anyone can now easily see if something is made locally, is Palm Oil Free, is organic etc (or not).
Each of these are scored as well. This allows both Traders to promote their own values and for Consumers to shop with theirs. Sometimes is is more important to a Trader to support a community in India for instance, than it is to be Made in Australia.
It is impossible to create a product without having an impact on the environment so it’s impossible to get a perfect 100. That’s why our ‘perfect’ focuses on transparency and uses a Traffic Light system. A score above 50 classifies as eco green for go; between 20 - 49 as orange, definitely worth considering; red is under 20.