Greengiving introduces the Green Score

At the beginning of this year we received the EcoVadis Platinum certification as recognition and confirmation of our sustainability policy. In the meantime, we were already busy with the next sustainability project: developing the Green Score. We are one of the first parties in the market to start using such an assessment tool. In this blog we will tell you more about it.

What is the Green Score?

The name speaks for itself: a score for the sustainability of a product. Because sustainability and CSR are of great importance to us, we carefully select our product range and we believe it is important to be transparent about the characteristics of our products. For this purpose, we have developed the Green Score. This is a system in which each product is assessed on various components and is awarded points. For example, we look at the raw material, the residual product and the origin of the product.

With the Green Score we place our products on a kind of sustainability ladder, and we provide insight into how the products within our range score. All products in our range are sustainable, but the Green Score shows the degree of sustainability.

Why the Green Score?

We can just say that our products are sustainable, but that is not enough. It is - especially in this day and age - extremely important to be clear about aspects such as origin, raw material and recyclability. Not only do we want that ourselves, but that is also what the industry and customers ask of us. With a clear tool such as the Green Score you can see all relevant information about the sustainability of the product at a glance. This will also help you make a choice.

The great thing about the Green Score is that you can also see the mutual relationships between products. For example, if you are looking for the most durable pen from our range, choose one with the darkest green leaf (such as the Senator pens). If you are looking for a sustainable notebook, but you don't want it to come from China or India, choose a Bambook, for example. In the pop-up on the product page you can see that it is produced in the Netherlands. So, thanks to the Green Score, you can compare different products with each other and make a well-considered choice.

We hope that other parties in the industry will also think about this, so that we can take real steps together and offer products that are as sustainable as possible. If we can improve the bottom (i.e. the products that now only have 1 or 2 leaves), the top will eventually also improve and we will move further and further in the right direction.

Components of the Green Score

When assessing a product, we look at the aspects you can see below. As far as we are concerned, these are the elements that collectively give a good impression of the degree of sustainability.

• Raw material - is the material upcycled, recycled or renewable?
• Residual product - how many different materials does the residual product consist of? (recyclability)
• Origin - is the product produced nearby or far away?
• Printing - how environmentally friendly is the printing?
• Packaging - is the product individually packaged?
• Certifications - does the product have a certification?
• Supplier - to what extent does the supplier contribute to sustainability?

For each component, a product can receive more or fewer points. A product can also receive bonus points, for example when it grows and contributes to biodiversity, or because it has an exceptionally long lifespan.

read more about the Green Score system

Green Score example - Fairtrade cotton bag

We will show you an example of what the Green Score looks like for the Fairtrade cotton bag. On the product page at the top right, you will see the Green Score logo + the leaf that belongs to this product.

If you click on this, a pop-up screen will appear. Here you can see all (sustainability) information of the product. You can also click through to the page with a detailed explanation of the Green Score.

Good to know: you can also filter on the Green Score. So if you want to see the most sustainable products, filter by 'Green Score descending'.