What is an ethical claim
Ethical claims are increasingly issued in the marketplace. They cover a wide range of issues related to environmental sustainability, social and economic justice and animal welfare, among others. This corresponds to a growing societal interest in the ethical aspects of organizations, their products and services and supply chains.
Ethical claims may be made by manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers or anyone else who can benefit from such claims. These claims may take the form of statements, symbols or illustrations on product labels or packaging, in product information, technical bulletins, advertising, publicity, public information, telemarketing, and in digital or electronic media such as the internet.
An ethical claim states an organization's achievements in social justice, economic justice or sustainability issues.
It is important that ethical claims are accurate, verifiable and not misleading in order to avoid negative effects on the market, such as trade barriers or unfair competition.
The assessment used by those making ethical claims needs to be clear, transparent and documented, so that those who purchase or may purchase, use or dispose of products can have confidence in the claims.
Ethical claims take into account relevant issues and reflect the best scientific understanding, innovation and applicable codes of good practice, adapted where necessary to local conditions.
Ethical assertions are based on criteria developed with the involvement of stakeholders, where appropriate.
Ethical claims are developed and stated after informed and objective consideration of the distribution of impacts across generations, regions and social groups and between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.
ISO/TS 17033:2019 "Ethical claims and supporting information - Principles and requirements" is intended to facilitate the communication of accurate, credible and verifiable information about the ethical aspects of a product, process, service or organization. It is relevant for creating new claims, improving existing claims and helping users to understand claims already on the market.
Ethical claims related to ESG
ESG (environment-social-governance) refers to a broad range of environmental, social and governance factors that can be used to assess how organizations manage their performance and impact with these non-economic aspects in mind.
The ESG framework is based on the belief that these factors are critical to a company's future performance. Theoretically, organizations that have low (minimal) environmental impact, are socially conscious and well governed will outperform other competing organizations.
ESG criteria are what organizations follow to call themselves sustainable in the environmental, social and governance areas. This means shifting their focus from conventional economic growth to slower growth that takes into account activities that may have an impact on the planet, and which could be negative if not handled with care.
Organizations need to embed this in the culture of their employees, enabling the environment, their workers and their entire production structure to benefit from the business, but not just financially. It embraces the idea of not forgetting the details and ensuring that the whole organization is sustainable in these three areas.
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Environment
Conserving the natural world
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Social
Taking people and relationships into account
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Governance
Standards for running a company
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| It covers interaction with the environment, such as climate change, biodiversity, natural resources, carbon emissions, air and water. | It analyzes impacts on society and communities, including human rights, health and safety issues, labor standards, product liability and privacy and personal data. | How companies are governed, including diversity, transparency, ownership, board ownership, independence and ethics. |
Why ethical claims about ESG need to be verified
Ethical ESG claims are already mandatory for a wide range of organizations, through European legislation (European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive-CSRD), national legislation, or stock exchange or bank regulations.
Some of these regulations explicitly require third-party verification of assertions.
Third-party verification of the assertion is the simplest form of demonstrating the veracity of environmental, social and governance claims.
Third-party verified statements are more readily accepted and the time it takes to deal with requests that also involve the provision of an ESG assertion by the requesters is significantly shortened.
Benefits of SRAC's verification of ethical ESG claims
- Enhancing reputation in the eyes of stakeholders;
- Improve non-financial risk management and operational efficiency over time;
- Improved negotiation conditions for opening credit lines with the banking system;
- Increase the possibility of winning tenders;
- Improve the capacity to attract potential investors;
- Minimize the risk of unexpected reputational and financial costs related to ESG issues;
- Strengthening customer relationships;
- Attract new customers by capitalizing on sustainability and social responsibility;
- Ensuring compliance of corporate sustainability information with European regulations and directives on sustainability reporting;
- Exploiting the competitive advantages of partnering with Romania's leading certificator.
Do you want to know the costs of certification?
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Please fill in the online INQUIRY and you will receive our answer in the shortest time possible or please contact Sales Department: sales@srac.ro |
