Public awareness of the environmental and social impacts of consumption has been growing for decades – whether the issue is pollution, deforestation, intensive agriculture, or climate change. Many corporations have responded by making ‘green’ claims about their own products – for example that they are ‘organic’, ‘chlorine-free’, ‘low carbon’, or ‘made with wood from sustainably…

How can we talk about sustainability standards in a clear, consistent and compelling language? It may seem like a strange question to ask, but in 2009 there was a problem. The Pacific Institute would go to meetings with policy makers, funders and think tanks and find that the people they were talking to had not realised…