A Strategic Communications Capstone - University of Oregon
Your Sustainable Shopping News Guide
Explore what sustainability claims mean.
The Illumination Index is a prototype communication audit that uses 11 indicators to examine alignment between companies’ public sustainability claims and the evidence reviewed for this project.
Every finding on this site is drawn from publicly available sources, including sustainability reports, regulatory filings, third-party audits, and court records. This framework organizes that information so consumers can draw their own conclusions.
The data is already out there. The Illumination Index puts it in one place.
Explore the context.
What does a sustainability claim tell you?
A company’s message and the information needed to interpret it may appear in different places. The Illumination Index brings selected claims and relevant records together, giving you a starting point for closer reading.
From a company’s message to your own perspective
How to use the Illumination Index:
1. Choose a company to explore
Browse the companies evaluated using the Illumination Index prototype.
2. Read the index
Read the selected statement, the relevant records, and the interpretation.
3. Decide for yourself
Use the evidence to make more informed decisions about the companies behind the products you buy.
The findings can inform consumers’ consideration of sustainability communications. They do not provide a complete assessment of a company or its products.
Understanding a claim starts with understanding the sources.
What the Index means
A sustainability claim and the information needed to evaluate it may appear in different places. A short advertisement may communicate a goal, while a report explains its baseline, progress or limitations.
The Illumination Index is for people who want to understand the information behind sustainability messages, the site connects selected claims with findings, sources, and limitations.
Public claim
A statement selected from a company website, advertisement, social post, press release or other reviewed communication.
Evidence and context
The relevant records used to examine that statement. Company reporting, independent verification, regulatory decisions, and legal allegations have different roles.
The approach
Research, translated into usable context.
The communication problem is the distance between a brief sustainability message and the information consumers need to interpret it.
The Illumination Index applies strategic communications by organizing research around a defined audience and task: helping consumers examine a claim, understand the relevant evidence and recognize the limits of a finding.
The website presents a plain-language summary first, followed by interpretation, indicator findings and sources. Future user testing could assess whether visitors understand the index direction, locate evidence and distinguish communication alignment from sustainability performance.
Why bring this information together?
The message and its context can appear in different places.
Sustainability messages may be brief, while the records needed to interpret them span multiple reports and public sources.
For consumers who value environmental responsibility and seek evidence about company claims, the Illumination Index brings selected messages, findings, and sources together.
The index concerns communication alignment with the reviewed evidence, rather than overall sustainability performance.