What is The Ethical Company Organisation?
The Ethical Company Organisation is based in the UK, Europe and is the company behind The Good Shopping Guide.
The history of The Ethical Company Organisation: Pioneering sustainability and ethical standards
The founding of The Ethical Company Organisation in 2001 was a timely response to the substantial growth in the ethical shopping movement in the late 90s and early 2000s. Companies and brands began to take seriously their standards of corporate social responsibility.
Several companies have improved their policies as a result of the influence of the Ethical Company Organisation’s independent research system.
The Ethical Company Organisation also developed a Good Shopping Guide phone app which scanned product barcodes and provided information about the ethics and sustainability practices of the brand. This app won The Guardian’s Consumer App of The Week in 2011, and was created in partnership with Friends of the Earth; 10% of profits from the app went to this organisation. Other credits include publishing The Good Nutrition Guide and establishing the world’s first Ethical Accreditation certification.
For a long time, we were the only organisation verifying ethical and corporate social responsibility across the 3 key areas of Environment, Animals and People (research methodologies still used by The Good Shopping Guide today).
The Ethical Company Organisation’s independent endorsement and research was, at that time, showcased to consumers through The Good Shopping Guide book. This landmark publication helped consumers cut through greenwash and get to the root of the ethical issues for close to two decades. Our last Good Shopping Guide book was published in 2012; we now publish all our research on The Good Shopping Guide website.
The Good Shopping Guide today
The Ethical Company Organisation continues to pioneer in the space of Ethical Accreditation, as The Good Shopping Guide. The Good Shopping Guide‘s Ethical Accreditation is the longest-running certification of its kind, and is a trusted and authoritative mark of brand sustainability and ethical practices. If you are a Sustainability Manager, Marketing Director or Brand Owner, you can fill out our Free Initial Assessment to find out if your brand qualifies for Ethical Accreditation from The Good Shopping Guide.
