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How are products rated?
The Health Score
The Health Score is based on the European Nutri-Score, a recognized method for assessing the nutritional quality of food products. This score considers key factors such as calories, sugar, salt, saturated fats, proteins, fiber, and the percentage of fruits and vegetables.
The method is supported by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization (WHO), emphasizing its scientific validity and its usefulness as a tool for selecting healthier foods.
What does it mean for you?
In the app, you can view this score in two ways:
When scanning a product: The Health Score is displayed for the specific item scanned.
In your dashboard: The app calculates an average score for your entire grocery run, giving you insights into your overall dietary choices.
This dual approach helps you evaluate individual products and track the nutritional quality of your diet as a whole.
How is the Nutri-Score calculated?
The Nutri-Score is determined by the balance of healthy and unhealthy nutrients in a food product:
Negative Points: Assigned for components considered unhealthy in high quantities, such as energy (calories), saturated fats, sugar, and sodium. High scores in these categories lower the overall rating.
Positive Points: Awarded for components that promote health, such as fruits, vegetables, and nuts, high-quality oils like olive or rapeseed, fiber, and protein content. High scores in these areas improve the Nutri-Score.
The balance between negative and positive points results in an overall rating that provides a clear representation of the food's nutritional value.
The Sustainability Score
The Sustainability Score is based on the Eco-Score, an experimental metric that holistically evaluates the environmental impact of food products. Initially developed in France, the Eco-Score is being expanded to other European countries. Its formula is regularly updated to improve accuracy and reflect regional specifics.
What does it mean for you?
In the app, you can view this score in two ways:
When scanning a product: The Sustainability Score is displayed for the specific item scanned.
In your dashboard: The app calculates an average score for your entire grocery run, giving you insights into your overall dietary choices.
This dual approach helps you evaluate individual products and track the nutritional quality of your diet as a whole.
How is the Eco-Score calculated?
The Eco-Score is built on the Agribalyse environmental database, created by ADEME and INRAE. This database uses Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to assess environmental impact across six production phases and 14 environmental indicators:
Six production phases: Agriculture, processing, packaging, transport, distribution, and consumption.
Fourteen environmental indicators: These include CO₂ footprint, ozone depletion, energy and water use, air and water pollution (e.g., acidification, nutrient run-off), and depletion of natural resources.
Bonuses and Penalties
The score is refined with bonuses and penalties to account for additional factors:
Production Method: Products with certified environmental labels (e.g., Organic, Fairtrade, MSC/ASC) earn bonuses.
Ingredient Origin: Locally sourced ingredients are rewarded for reducing transport emissions and supporting eco-friendly production standards.
Biodiversity Impact: Products harming biodiversity (e.g., palm oil from unsustainable sources) receive penalties.
Packaging Type: Sustainable packaging earns bonuses, while excessive or unsustainable packaging incurs penalties.
Transparency and Collaboration
Precise Eco-Score calculations require detailed product data, often not available on packaging. To bridge this gap, we partner with companies adhering to strict criteria, enabling better data transparency and assessment of environmental impact. When such information is unavailable, average values are used, ensuring the evaluation process continues.
How does the GreenMates app calculate my calorie target?
Your calorie target is determined by combining your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and your activity level. Additionally, we factor in an energy adjustment tailored to your goal—whether that’s weight loss, weight gain, or muscle building—to adjust your daily calorie intake accordingly.
What is Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)?
BMR is the amount of energy your body requires at complete rest to support essential functions like breathing, digestion, and cell regeneration. Even if you spent the entire day in bed, your body would still need this energy.
Since biological differences lead to slight variations between men and women, we use gender-specific formulas to calculate BMR. This calculation is based on your weight, height, age, and gender.
How is my activity level calculated?
Your activity level is determined by how active you are during your day-to-day life. We use the Physical Activity Level (PAL) factor, a standardized measure you can adjust in your profile:
1.2 (Low): “Chill – I mostly sit around” (e.g., desk job, minimal movement).
1.4 (Moderate): “Light Moves – I’m somewhat active” (e.g., light exercise or occasional walks).
1.6 (High): “On the Go – I stay active” (e.g., regular workouts, jogging, or frequent walking).
1.8 (Very High): “Workout Warrior – I train intensely most days”.
2.0 (Extremely High): “All-Out Athlete – I’m super active every day” (e.g., intense training or heavy physical labor).
Formula to maintain weight:
BMR × PAL factor
How is the energy adjustment calculated?
If your goal is to lose weight or build muscle, we adjust your calculation to include an energy deficit or surplus:
For weight loss:
According to a well-known rule of thumb, losing 0.5 kg per week requires a daily calorie deficit of 500 kcal. We emphasize sustainable, healthy goals and use this as a general guide, though individual weight changes can vary significantly.
For muscle building:
To build muscle, especially with intense training, your calorie needs increase. We add 300 kcal to your daily target to support muscle recovery and growth.
What other factors influence my calorie target?
Our calculations are based on simplified formulas. However, individual factors we cannot account for—such as genetic predispositions, hormonal conditions, stress, or gut microbiota—can impact your actual calorie needs.
Tip:
If you’re unsure, consult a doctor or nutritionist for a professional assessment to achieve your nutritional goals in the best way possible.
Where does the GreenMates app get its data?
Our core value is transparency. That’s why we work on multiple levels to provide you with the most reliable and meaningful sustainability data possible.
The reason: There’s currently no single, complete database for food-related emissions – but we believe the time to act is now. So we combine different data sources to close that gap as best we can:
🔎 For assessing individual products and brands (like the ones in your grocery haul), we collaborate with Open Food Facts – an open, community-driven database with information on ingredients, nutrition, and environmental impact.
🍽️ For our recipes, we use data from My Emission, a platform specialized in calculating the carbon footprint of meals. This allows us to give you a clear and trustworthy estimate of how climate-friendly your cooking choices are.
🤖 When tracking your daily diet (e.g. “I had a sandwich and a coffee”), our own AI system takes over. It draws its understanding of food carbon footprints from a vast training dataset that includes scientific research, agricultural databases, and environmental reports.
Our AI processes this information to recognize patterns, calculate emission factors, and provide informed estimates on a food’s environmental impact across its full life cycle – known as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
We’re also building our own database in collaboration with food brands and producers – to further increase transparency and make the climate footprint of food more tangible.
Our goal: A solid, intelligent foundation that not only helps you make more climate-friendly choices – but also pushes the food industry toward real sustainability.
How does GreenMates calculate the sustainability of my diet?
We use what we call Carbon Calories – the "climate calories" of your meal.
Instead of just looking at what you eat, we also look at how climate-impacting it is. That means: emissions from farming, production, transport, and more all flow into our calculation.
To make the numbers easier to understand, we show you real-life comparisons – like:
👉 Car travel equivalent:
1 km in a typical petrol car emits about 164 g CO₂e.
So if your meal causes 328 g CO₂e, that’s roughly like driving 2 km. 🚗💨
👉 Beef burger equivalent:
One regular beef burger (about 150g patty) emits around 3.1 kg CO₂e.
So if your dish emits 6.2 kg CO₂e, that equals 2 burgers – climate-wise. 🍔
Our goal: Making climate impact visible, so you can make smart, sustainable choices.