Which trustmark do retailers accept for sustainability claims?

There is no official list of accepted trustmarks, and no retailer keeps one. What retailers check is something else: whether the claim on the pack holds up, and whether the supplier can produce the evidence for it.

What sets the benchmark since 27 September 2026

The EmpCo directive answers the question. A sustainability label may only be used towards consumers if it is based on a certification scheme or was established by a public authority. Self-awarded logos drop out. For retail that means the label has to be verifiable: a published programme, an independent assessment, a licence number and follow-up checks.

Why retail now checks more closely than before

Because liability sits with them. The duty to check falls on the company displaying the label, not on the label owner. With own brands the retailer is the brand owner and therefore the party making the claim. An assurance from the supplier does not discharge that.

The four questions actually asked in listing talks

• What exactly does the claim refer to, the product, the packaging or only one component?
• Who carried out the assessment, and is that body accredited?
• Where is the programme it was assessed against?
• Can you produce the evidence at short notice if a warning letter arrives?

Anyone with a substantiated answer to all four is in the conversation. Anyone with only a logo is not.

What flustix provides for this

Every certificate carries a licence number and can be looked up in the public database, the certification programme is published, testing runs in laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 and assessment follows ISO/IEC 17065. Through the sub-licence system the evidence can be passed along the supply chain so the retailer can take it into their own file.