Our evaluation criteria, or the way we allocate points when we “score” companies, are based on the types of impacts to people and the planet that we recognize as being important for that industry and the types of products the companies we evaluate make and sell.

Our evaluation process relies exclusively on publicly available information that we deem to be credible. You can do a deeper dive about the sources of information we use to help inform Hilde's evaluation criteria here.

Because ingredient safety is such an important topic to the health of our children (including before they’re even born!) we include in-depth criteria on the topic.

We also include a variety of criteria under the umbrella of sustainability. These include environmental impact topics like greenhouse gas emissions reductions and protecting biodiversity, and social impact or "benefits for people" topics like protecting human rights across a company's value chain. We talk more about our perspective on sustainability below.

We have criteria in our evaluations that also look at the nature and extent to which a company has obtained certifications we trust. More on certifications below.

We reserve the right to reevaluate any company or product, or update our evaluation of that company, product or our evaluation criteria, at any time using the latest version of our evaluation criteria as new information becomes available.

Hilde's evaluations dedicate an entire section to ingredient safety because we're focused on helping you support companies that take the health of you and your family seriously.

In general, our ingredient safety criteria are designed to help us determine:

How does this company consider the safety of chemicals present in raw materials, ingredients, and manufacturing processes for people and ecosystems?

To answer this question, we search for information on topics that include but are not limited to:

• Level of public transparency the company provides on ingredients in their products
• The company’s approach to assessing ingredient safety
• Method and degree to which the company restricts chemicals of concern
• The company’s management of contaminants and unintentionally added chemicals
• Use of analytical testing by the company
• The company successfully obtaining and maintaining credible ingredient safety-relevant certifications

Hilde’s ingredient safety criteria will continue to evolve over time as the science changes and our understanding grows.

Our sustainability-related criteria includes topics on both impacts to our planet (environmental) and benefits created for people through the business.

In general, our environmental criteria are designed to help us determine:

How does this company identify the nature and extent of environmental impacts across their value chain?

Are they taking meaningful steps to address those impacts?

To answer these questions, we search for credible information on topics from the company like:

• Circularity in product and packaging design
• Impact-specific goals and policies related to climate, biodiversity, etc.
• Reductions in environmental impacts over time
• Successfully obtaining and maintaining credible environmental impact reduction-relevant certifications

Hilde’s environmental impact reduction criteria will continue to evolve over time as the science changes and our understanding grows.

In general, our benefits for people criteria are designed to help us determine:

How does this company identify the nature and extent of impacts (positive and negative) on people and communities across their value chain?

Are they taking meaningful steps to address those negative impacts and increase positive ones?

To answer these questions, we search for credible information on topics like:

• Commitment to fair wages for employees across their value chain
• Providing paid parental leave when not mandated by state law
• Responsible sourcing policies and practices
• Respecting the lawful rights of employees to organize and unionize
• Successfully obtaining and maintaining approved social impact-relevant certifications

How a company treats people (inside and outside their organization) is an important part of their sustainability efforts.

Hilde’s benefits for people criteria will continue to evolve over time as the science changes and our understanding grows.

In general, our accountability criteria are designed to help us determine:

How does this company integrate ingredient safety and sustainability into the way they make decisions?

What policies, processes, practices do they use to hold themselves publicly accountable for their impacts on people and the planet?

To answer these questions, we search for credible information on topics like:

• Annual sustainability and impact reporting
• Use of context-based sustainability performance measurement
• Public policy engagement and advocacy
• Successfully obtaining and maintaining governance-relevant certifications

Hilde’s accountability criteria will continue to evolve over time as the policy and practice changes and our understanding grows.

You can read more about the steps in our evaluation process here.

As part of our evaluation criteria we note if the company and/or products have obtained certifications or ecolabels.

These criteria consider the nature and extent to which a company, the brands they own, and the products that make and sell have obtained and used trustworthy certifications.

We have identified “approved” certifications that, based upon our experience and expertise, help advance the health and safety of the people and the planet, and therefore we count toward specific criteria in our evaluations.

Hilde reserves the right to reevaluate certifications, revise our “approved” list of certifications, and update our evaluation criteria as new information becomes available.

Find out more about which certifications we trust here.

How well a company performs on the individual criteria included in our evaluation plays a direct role in how we assign ratings.

The number and nature of the criteria that are successfully met in any given category (i.e. ingredient safety, environmental impact, benefits for people, accountability) is the basis by which Hilde calculates a "rating" for that particular category.

Those category ratings are then used to determine a company "status" or an overall rating of the company.

Find out more about how Hilde assigns ratings & company status here.

Hilde’s definition of sustainability includes a “context-based” approach that is designed to ensure that our businesses operate using a fair share of our natural resources, within the boundaries necessary to maintain the long-term resilience of the planetary systems we all depend on.

In other words, we believe that sustainability requires contextualization within thresholds based on equitable allocations of multiple kinds of capital, including but not limited to natural, social, and human capital.  

For a deeper dive into context-based sustainability, we encourage you to check out resources from the United Nations RISD here.

Our criteria are also based on a double materiality standard which includes considering both environmental and social impacts that may influence company performance AND how those impacts may influence our planet, people, communities and society.  

Because the adoption of context-based sustainability will depend upon our ability to transform our businesses, including how they make money, set strategy, make operational-decisions, engage in public policy, are accountable to stakeholders, etc., we also consider issues related to corporate accountability.