Savings United, The Independent and Earthmark today announce the launch of an innovative initiative on The Independent’s vouchers portal, giving brands sustainability ratings.

The Independent will now show ‘Earthmarks’ — environmental scores for sustainable, restorative and regenerative advertisers, allowing consumers to make conscious, informed decisions about their purchases.

In addition, The Independent’s vouchers portal will now highlight sustainable product ranges to consumers in the form of offers, encouraging people to make more climate-friendly choices. Savings United and The Independent have also worked closely with affiliate networks and suppliers to source new sustainable advertisers, creating market-leading opportunities for consumers to buy better.

Campbell Price, The Independent’s e-Commerce Director, says: “The Independent has been committed to environmental issues since launching in 1986, and this is the latest in a long line of innovative initiatives designed to give readers the tools to make change happen. By making it easier to understand which brands are sustainable, consumers will have more power to form decisions which are grounded in helping our planet in a tangible, impactful way.”

Dan Cohen, Group Commercial Director at Savings United, says: “At Savings United, one of our pillars is to help consumers make conscious buying decisions and this exciting partnership between The Independent, Earthmark and Savings United is an innovative way to show this to consumers. In conjunction with ‘green coupons’, which shows consumers sustainable product ranges on advertisers’ sites, this provides consumers with the tools to understand and minimise the negative environmental effects of their purchase.”

Jack Linnett, Co-founder and CEO at Earthmark, says: “It’s our mission to help people base decisions on the environmental performance of a brand, just in the same way they can with trust and popularity. We’re partnering with trailblazers in the ecommerce and media space to start with and the reach this initiative gives us is huge – it’s a big step forwards in the movement to more conscious decision-making. We’re incredibly excited to be partnering with The Independent and Savings United.”