What are the plans to communicate the scoring of this index to the end consumer?
These tools are supply chain facing and in their current form not intended to be consumer facing. At this time there are no plans to actively and directly communicate the eco index and their results to the end consumer. We feel one of the greatest needs and opportunities of the sustainable supply chain are to gain experience and understanding about the environmental impacts for the full product lifecycle. Therefore targeted end customer metrics on something we are only beginning to develop a deeper understanding for is premature and potentially problematic. If these tools get misused as a marketing vehicle—as likely with end consumer communication at this early stage—it could undermine the whole effort. That said, consumer education remains a very, very important challenge. Companies individually are highly encouraged to be very transparent about the means by which they obtain their understanding on product and supply chain environmental impact. Certainly, clearly stating what was learned—both good and bad—to consumers about environmental impacts, based upon this index, would be a very good thing to do. Although the index is not designed as a consumer facing tool, the intent is that this web site, and future tools will be freely accessed by any and all—including end consumers. Transparency is a fundamental cornerstone of respectable sustainability work.
 
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