Sustainable Sara: Year-End Highlights
It’s been a year of big regulatory shifts, even bigger expectations, and, thankfully, more companies stepping up to prove their environmental progress with transparency and rigor. GreenCircle Certified is proud to have the opportunity to help organizations move beyond good intentions toward credible, verifiable sustainability action.
So, consider this your Sustainable Sara year-end highlight reel: our top webinars, our newest services, a few proud milestones, and a wink at what’s coming in 2026.
Our Most Impactful Webinars of 2025: What Leaders Tuned in For
This year’s webinars brought strong participation and some excellent questions from sustainability leaders. If you missed any or want to re-watch here are our biggest hits of 2025:
GHG Verification: How Leaders Are Tackling Scope 1 & 2 Emissions and Proving It
This session was our most replayed webinar of the year and for good reason. It gave sustainability teams the transparency and clarity they needed to move from “we think this is right” to “we know this is defensible.”
With the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Climate Disclosure Rule moving forward and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) reshaping corporate expectations, credible greenhouse gas (GHG) verification has become a business necessity for companies serious about ESG performance and transparency.
In this webinar, we covered:
The biggest complexity and pressure points in emissions reporting
What “right-sized” verification looks like (Sara Says: Limited Assurance is the Goldilocks choice for most companies)
Real-world examples of how leading brands are turning audit-ready data into competitive advantage
Watch the webinar on-demand here.
Behind the Label: Why Third-Party Certifications Matter in Sustainable Marketing
Sustainable Brands, Sponsored by GreenCircle Certified
We all know consumers and retailers are getting smarter about sustainability claims and a lot more skeptical. This webinar tackled the growing need for proof-backed marketing, showing why third-party certifications are essential for avoiding greenwashing, strengthening brand trust, and meeting retailer requirements.
Key topics included:
Why unverified claims are riskier than ever
How certification strengthens brand integrity and market visibility
What brands can expect as retailers increasingly require validated sustainability attributes
Bookmark this one — it’s going to be just as important (if not more!) in 2026.
Advancing the Circular Economy: Certification, Innovation & the Regulatory Landscape
Featuring GreenCircle Certified + Interface
One of my personal favorites. We teamed up with Interface, pioneer and leader in the circular economy within the flooring industry to talk about:
What real circularity looks like (beyond the buzzword)
How design, certification, and transparency intersect
The regulatory shifts accelerating circular innovation
Lessons learned from implementing circular systems at scale
Leaders walked away with actionable, proven strategies. Interface reminded all of us that innovation is only as strong as the verification that supports it. Watch the webinar on-demand here.
Our 2025 Service Expansion: Designed for Today’s Demands
As regulations tightened and expectations rose, we launched new services to help organizations move from reactive compliance to confident, proactive readiness.
✅ Audit Readiness Assessment: Prepare for Certification with Confidence
We developed our Audit Readiness Assessment to help companies strengthen internal processes, prepare documentation, and align their data with regulatory expectations before the auditor shows up.
It’s been well received by sustainability, procurement, and legal teams, especially those juggling SEC, CSRD, and retailer-driven requirements.
Learn more about our Audit Readiness Assessment here.
✅ GHG Verification: Limited Assurance
As emissions reporting becomes more regulated and more scrutinized, our GHG Verification: Limited Assurance gives companies a credible, third-party validated way to demonstrate their climate progress.
The emerging patchwork of state, federal, and international requirements highlights the need for accurate, independently verified, and audit-ready GHG inventories. Limited assurance verification provides the transparency and defensibility organizations need to meet evolving state expectations and prepare for future mandatory disclosures.
Limited Assurance isn’t “light” verification, it’s right-sized (I called it the Goldilocks of GHG Verification here). You still get expert review, sampling, data tracing, and critical feedback on your GHG inventory and methodology, just focused on what matters most. In verifier-speak, it means “nothing has come to our attention indicating a material misstatement.” In plain English? Your numbers hold up, and your stakeholders can trust them.
Learn more about our GHG Verification: Limited Assurance here.
2025 Milestones: A Year of Growth, Integrity & Impact
We’re still finalizing the numbers, but here’s what I can say:
GreenCircle Certified saw an over 50% increase in certificates issued in 2025.
There are over 10,000 products badged on Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly with GreenCircle Certified certifications.
Demand surged for transparency-based programs. Proof that the market is shifting from “tell us” to “show us”.
Transparency isn’t a trend. It’s the new standard.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Without giving too much away… you’ll see new verification pathways from GreenCircle Certified, more tools for product-level transparency, and expanded support for regulatory compliance.
And yes — I’ll be here to walk you through all of it. Sign up for our newsletter to be part of our inner circle.
Sara’s Year-End Takeaways
2025 pushed companies to get serious about credibility, data integrity, and transparent communication.
From embracing GHG verification to strengthening internal systems to telling more authentic sustainability stories, this year proved that meaningful progress is happening, and it’s happening everywhere.
Here’s to a 2026 full of clarity, credibility, and continued momentum.
See you in the next edition. Happy New Year!
About Sustainable Sara
Sustainable Sara is GreenCircle Certified’s in-house certification officer and your go-to source for navigating sustainability claims, audits, and emissions reporting. She’s deeply knowledgeable, fiercely passionate about environmental integrity, and believes that every company — no matter the size — can make credible, verifiable sustainability progress.
Connect with Sara at SustainableSara@greencirclecertified.com
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