Understanding the Green-Score

What the Green-Score is

The Green-Score is an indicator that summarises a food's environmental impact on a scale fromA+(lowest impact) toF(highest impact), behind which lies a score out of 100. It was designed to help compare products in the same family at the point of purchase, without having to read a scientific report.

According to its official documentation, it is jointly proposed by several digital players, with input from experts including ADEME, Quantis, EVEA, WWF, Zero Waste, CITEO and Veolia. It is part of an experiment led by the French Ministry of Ecological Transition. The consortium includes Open Food Facts, Yuka, Marmiton, ScanUp, La Fourche and ECO2 Initiative, among others. The methodology, documentation and code are public. The documentation itself calls it an "experimental indicator".

The reasoning starts from the full life cycle of the food: agricultural production, processing, packaging, transport, distribution, consumption and end of life. Impact is assessed across several criteria, including greenhouse gas emissions, water, soil and biodiversity.

From Eco-Score to Green-Score: what has changed

The Green-Score is theformer Eco-Score, renamed. According to the changelog of the official documentation, three dates matter:

• on19 September 2024: addition of theA+andFratings, removal of the packaging cap, and withdrawal of certain origin bonus-penalty points for products already receiving a label bonus;
• on20 December 2024: the score isrenamed Green-score;
• on16 September 2026: update of the Agribalyse 3.2 values in the simulation tool.

The core of the method therefore remains the same: a starting score derived from life cycle analysis, adjusted by bonuses and penalties. For a summary of what changes for you, read our newsThe Eco-Score becomes the Green-Score: what changes.

Data: Agribalyse and life cycle analysis

The basis of the calculation isAgribalyse, a public database of life cycle assessments (LCA) developed by ADEME and INRAE. It covers around 2,500 food product categories. The Green-Score documentation specifies that the score derived from the LCA depends on thecategoryof the product: two products in the same category start from the same value, because the data are averages per category.

Impact is measured with 16 environmental indicators (climate change, fine particles, water use, land use, use of fossil and mineral resources, acidification, eutrophication, toxicity, etc.). They are combined into a single score, which is then converted to a score out of 100. The lower the impact, the higher the score. Beverages (milks, juices, plant-based drinks) are converted using a different formula from solid foods. Waters and sodas are excluded from the system.

How the score is calculated

The general formula in the documentation is:score = LCA + bonuses - penalties. The result remains capped between 0 and 100. The complementary indicators, for their part, take account of the product's specific characteristics:

• The production system (labels): a bonus of 5 to 20 points depending on the product's labels, for example organic farming, Label Rouge or fair trade;
• The environmental policy of the country of origin: a bonus or penalty of -5 to +5 points;
• Local sourcing (transport): a bonus of 0 to 15 points;
• Packaging circularity: a penalty of up to 15 points, depending on materials and their recyclability;
• Endangered species: a penalty of 10 points for palm oil, unless certified 100% RSPO Segregated or Identity Preserved; products containing at least 30% wild fish or seafood from unsustainable stocks are classed as E.

These bonuses and penalties serve todifferentiateproducts within the same category. An organic, local and lightly packaged product can thus stand out from a conventional, distant and over-packaged product in the same family.

The letter scale and the meaning of A+

Seven classes exist: A+, A, B, C, D, E and F.A+denotes the lowest impact andFthe highest. These two ends were introduced in September 2024, which makes it easier to distinguish the most environmentally virtuous products from those with the heaviest impact.

The thresholds for each letter, out of 100 points: A+ from 90 to 100; A from 75 to 89; B from 60 to 74; C from 45 to 59; D from 30 to 44; E from 15 to 29; F below 15. The letters are ordered from lowest to highest impact, and A+ is the best possible rating.

Another practical point: fresh products as well as processed products can be rated, as long as their category is in the database. A product outside the scope, such as water, has no Green-Score.

Limits to be aware of

• Category averages.The starting score does not measure the specific farm that produced your food. It reflects an average for the category, which the bonuses and penalties then adjust.
• Coverage.The score depends on the information available for the product: labels, origin of ingredients, packaging. If these are missing or incomplete, the calculation relies on less data. Some products have no score.
• Criteria covered mainly through labels.The documentation acknowledges that some aspects, such as biodiversity, erosion or pesticide reduction, are only taken into account through labels.
• A comparison between categories to be handled with caution.The score is mainly for choosing between two comparable products, not for deciding whether one food family is better than another.
• An experimental indicator.Its designers describe it as such, and its values change with updates to Agribalyse.
• It says nothing about health.A product can have a good Green-Score and a poor nutritional profile, and vice versa.

To see how the Green-Score compares with the other indicators, seeAll scores compared: Nutri-Score, NOVA, Green-Score.

The Green-Score in Yumiq

On a product's page, the Green-Score letter appears alongside the Nutri-Score and the NOVA group. To interpret it, look at the letter, then compare it with a product in the same category rather than with a very different food.

A good habit is to cross-check the letters. A product rated A on the Green-Score but D on the Nutri-Score is not as interesting as a product rated B across the board: the first is light on the planet, the second is better balanced across all criteria. The indicators complement rather than replace one another, which is why the product page shows them side by side.

In Yumiq, the Green-Score isone of the dimensions of the Yumiq-Score, alongside the Nutri-Score, the NOVA classification, additives, quality labels and community reviews. It also feeds into theYumiq star, which requires in particular a Green-Score ofA or A+, a NOVA 1 group, no risky additive and at least one quality label. To see which products reach this level, readEnvironmental impact of foods: the Green-Score A+ products.

Sources

• Official Green-score documentation, presentation
• Official Green-score documentation, general operation
• Official Green-score documentation, life cycle analysis
• Official Green-score documentation, changelog
• Open Food Facts - Green-Score: methodology and calculation
• Open Food Facts - Agribalyse 3.1 update and impact on the Eco-Score