The Eco Index is a US driven initiative, managed by the Eco Working Group under the Outdoor Industry Association umbrella. The Sustainability Working Group and the Eco Working Group are collaborating in order to ensure consistency in the development and deployment of sustainability tools and solutions for the global outdoor
industry.

Eco Index purpose

The Eco Index will be used by companies to incorporate environmental considerations into product design and to manage their supply chains in a way that supports their environmental goals.

The EWG also intends for the index to enhance transparency within the supply chain and facilitate communication with suppliers.

The current focus of the index is to be an internal/supply chain facing tool and not a consumer-facing label. This focus could be revisited in future years.

Eco Index definition and scope

Definition: The Eco Index is an outdoor industry environmental assessment tool containing:

Environmental guidelines
Environmental performance indicators
Environmental footprint metrics
Comparative scoring system (currently for indicators only)

Scope: The EWG intends for the index to apply across outdoor industry product categories including apparel, equipment and footwear.

The Eco Index is based on a life cycle approach and integrates some key
environmental impacts, as described in the Framework (see below).

Existing components of the Eco Index: