Trust but verify certification claims by companies
We attempt to confirm certifications during our company evaluation research
How we use high quality certifications in our evaluations
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 certifications that, based upon our experience and expertise, we believe are trustworthy and higher quality because they actually help advance the health and safety of the people and the planet. Some of the certifications we trust may count toward specific criteria in our evaluations.
Our process for applying “trust but verify” for certifications
When we conduct research during an evaluation it is our standard practice to randomly validate certifications if a company publicly claims to have obtained them as an organization, for their products, or materials used in their products. Depending on the certification, sometimes the company itself receives the certification (e.g. B-corp), sometimes a product receives the certification (e.g. Made Safe), and sometimes a specific material used in a particular product receives a certification (e.g. Forest Stewardship Council). The way we commonly attempt to confirm that the company, product, or material is actually certified is by searching public databases that are maintained by the organization responsible for managing the certification.
Verifying certifications isn’t always easy or straightforward
It can be surprisingly difficult to confirm that a specific company, product, or material does in fact have the certification being claimed. Here are some of the reasons it can be difficult to verify a certification:
No database to search
Not every organization that manages a certification has a public database to search. Sometimes we send an email to try and confirm.
Poor search functionality
Not all search is created equal. The search functionality for some certification databases does not routinely return reliable results or it is difficult to use effectively.
Confusing registration names
A given certification can be under multiple or different company names and some companies register their certifications using an LLC that is not readily available during our research.
Complicated supply chains
Multi-layered global supply chains make it difficult to find out which supplier we should search for a given certification. This is particularly true for material-level certifications like FSC, RSPO, and others.
Despite these challenges, we’ll continue to do this kind of research and confirmation so you don’t have to. It’s one of the reasons we think Hilde’s company ratings are the gold standard. And one of the reasons your family can trust our research and recommendations. Learn more about how certifications we trust in this blog. Find out how certifications are used in our evaluations here.