A fun, interactive challenge to test your knowledge on what makes a good product sustainability claim! Take the challenge to check how well you are able to identify which green claims are more likely to promote sustainability and empower sustainable consumption decisions, based on the recommendations of the “Guidelines for Providing Product Sustainability Information” by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Introduction

Nowadays, consumers are becoming more conscious of the impact that their consumption choices can have on the environment. Therefore, they are looking for better product options to reduce their environmental footprint.

Companies are aware of this change within consumption patterns and see this switch of mentality as a market opportunity, creating messages that can capture the attention of these new potential consumers. However, the market is teeming with a vast array of products and a variety of green claims. It is important for businesses and consumers alike to understand how to communicate and understand product sustainability information and avoid misleading and confusing information as well as greenwashing etc.

To strengthen good practices and increase awareness of the relevance of providing clear and reliable consumer information, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) launched the Guidelines for Providing Product Sustainability Information. The Guidelines aim to benefit both the consumer and the producer by outlining how companies can provide quality information to empower sustainable consumption decisions, and serving as a reference for governments, standard and labelling bodies and NGOs.

Based on these guidelines, and in collaboration with UNEP and CI-SCP, UNSSC is proud to present the Green Marketing Challenge, a learning challenge that tests your knowledge on what makes for a good product sustainability claim in a competitive and fun way.

Objectives

This online challenge seeks to:

• Support transformative action for sustainable consumer information.
• Make participants of the challenge aware of the guidelines and principles that could strengthen their sustainability claims.
• Articulate the standards that would make sustainability claims better.
• Facilitate the understanding of how to apply the 10 principles of sustainable claims to their product and labelling so that they deliver better and more genuine sustainability claims on their products.
• Identify the barriers and enablers to applying the principles to their labels in order to recognize how to strengthen their sustainability claims.

Course methodology

This online learning product is designed to deliver maximum learning outcomes through optimal time investments into carefully chosen high-quality learning materials which are specially tailored to advance participants’ understanding of how to better communicate their environment claims.

The format of the training will be a self-paced challenge.

Course contents

Participants are given a series of challenges based on live examples that demonstrate good / bad practice on product sustainability claims. Feedback on their choices makes the link to the guidelines on which the challenge is based.

Target audience

1. Business and Marketing managers in small to mid-sized private sector firms that are keen to or already make sustainability claims on their products.
2. Members of civil society organizations who are engaged in advocating for product sustainability.
3. Consumers