Alex’s post on Knowmore.org reminded me of another tool I came across that lets consumers make more informed buying decisions. The organization ClimateCounts.org has developed a rating system to evaluate companies on their performance in fighting climate change. In a sense the tool is similar to GoodGuide which I talked about last week, however, with more emphasis on things like emissions tracking and reduction, disclosure and the company’s public policy stance. The organization looks at 22 factors to arrive at a 0-100 score for each company. To make things easy the organization rates companies on a three point scale – Stuck, Starting, Striding – to help shoppers make a quick comparison.

Although the organization has only rated a handful of large companies the model of easy to use rankings looks very promising. ClimateCounts.org could improve the service by developing tools for consumers themselves to help rate businesses on their environmental performance. The organization could also make comparisons easier by pushing the data to sites which are used to make actual purchases or purchasing decisions. (Especially on mobile devices).

Overall the development of tools such as ClimateCoutns.org, GoodGuide and Knowmore.org as well as social responsibility data on sites like Amazon and eBay will help everyone become more conscientious shoppers. And through that put pressure on companies with irresponsible business practices.