Charcoal Transparency

Earthworm Foundation would like to invite you to Europe’s first Charcoal Transparency survey.

Earthworm Foundation (EF), formerly The Forest Trust (TFT) is an impact-driven, non-profit organisation with the desire to bring positive change to the relationship between nature & people. Since 2013, we have been working to transform the European charcoal sector together with partner retailers, traders, producers and other key market actors. EF is not a certification body but keeps on driving innovative solutions to bring more transparency to the opaque charcoal market.

In June 2019, EF launched the charcoal transparency initiative, an innovative web platform that offers to the charcoal industry the chance to communicate their efforts in delivering transparent and responsible charcoal. It also serves as Europe’s largest online charcoal product database and enables actors to communicate their product story to the end consumer via a QR code printed on the charcoal bag (this service implies a field diagnostic by EF). Visit our website at www.charcoal- transparency.org.

This year, EF is launching a Charcoal Transparency Survey in order to assess the level of responsible engagement of all charcoal brands and producers. This survey gives all professionals in the sector the opportunity to add their product to our platform in exchange for company, product and supply chain information. It will enable companies to increase their charcoal product visibility on Europe’s consumer markets. In addition, the platform can serve as a tool for the end consumer to compare most European charcoal bags in order to make an informed purchasing decision.

How it works

1. Fill out the survey:

Answer to the questions; Provide your product information and your supply chain information via the excel file you can download during the survey. Your information will be treated will full confidentiality, please see our and Terms & Conditions that you will be asked to accept during the survey.

2. Evaluation of your information

Earthworm Foundation will evaluate your company, product and supply chain information and provide your product’s page with a Charcoal bag score.

This score is based on the company’s self-declaration that is then assessed by the Earthworm team. This score will appear as a percentage on your product’s page – none of your confidential information will be divulged. Its purpose is to provide the end customer with additional information regarding the responsible sourcing of the product.

Please note that, as it is based on self-declaration, the Charcoal bag score cannot be compared to an EF field diagnostic, which can lead to a field score and a product story on our website. If a company has already undergone an EF field diagnostic and is a member of the Charcoal Transparency Initiative, the field score outweighs the Charcoal bag score and a clear differentiation between assessed and self-declared will be shown. However, we also encourage current Charcoal Transparency members to complete the survey as the Charcoal bag score will be published as an additional source of information.

Click on the link to see our scoring methodology for the Charcoal bag score

3. Publication of your charcoal products and the Charcoal Bag Score

If you have transmitted all required information and agreed to our terms and conditions EF will publish your individual charcoal bag score together with your product information and a product picture on www.charcoal-transparency.org. You will receive an E-mail once your product information has been uploaded.

The survey will take you about 20 minutes. Thank you very much for your time, engagement & transparency!

- Click here for our terms and conditions
- Click here for EF Charcoal Scoring methodology
- Click here for the frequently asked questions (FAQs) around EF’s Charcoal Transparency Survey
- Click here to learn more about EF Charcoal program