Resourcehip FAQ

1. What is Resourcehip?

Resourcehip is an independent UK rating service that scores consumer products on long-term material resilience. We publish ratings on resourcehip.com that show how dependent a product is on scarce materials, opaque supply chains, and throwaway design — and where responsibly made alternatives sit. Our audience is consumers who want a transparent reference, and manufacturers who want credit for doing better than the category baseline.

2. What does the HIP score measure?

The HIP Score (Human Impact Profile) is a single number from 0 to 10 covering seven independently assessed dimensions: Material Scarcity, Supply Chain Risk, Recyclability and Circularity, Repairability, Social and Environmental Impact, Product Longevity, and the Regenerative Index. The Regenerative Index is unique to Resourcehip and runs from −10 to +10, because honestly accounting for products that deplete natural reserves means having a negative scale to put them on. The HIP Score is not a carbon footprint — it measures resilience and material stewardship, not in-use energy or transport emissions.

3. How are ratings calculated?

Every rating follows a public methodology document that defines the rubric for each dimension, the data sources permitted, and the weights applied. Scores are produced by a local AI pipeline that reads structured product data, applies the rubric, and returns a justified score for each dimension; the seven scores combine into a weighted HIP Score. Both the methodology rubric and the pipeline that applies it are version-controlled, so any rating can be traced back to the exact rules in force when it was produced. Every rating is reviewed and approved by a human assessor before it is published — no rating goes live automatically.

4. What is a verified rating versus a generic rating?

A generic rating assesses a whole product category — for example, "kettle" or "wireless earbuds" — using publicly available data and conservative assumptions. No specific brand is named. A verified rating assesses one specific product from a named manufacturer, using data the manufacturer has submitted and Resourcehip has reviewed. Verified ratings almost always score higher than the generic baseline, because real data about what a product actually contains and how it is actually made beats a conservative category assumption.

5. How do you prevent gaming or manipulation of scores?

The methodology is published in full under a Creative Commons licence, so every scoring decision is auditable against the public rubric. Each score must cite the specific rubric anchor that justified it, and verified submissions go through a human review checklist before a rating is published. Generic ratings cannot be influenced by manufacturers at all — they are produced internally from public data sources such as USGS, the EU Critical Raw Materials list, ILO standards, and BEUC research.

6. Who can get a product rated?

Any consumer-products brand or manufacturer can request a verified rating for a specific product by submitting product information through Resourcehip's intake process. Generic category ratings are produced by Resourcehip on the categories we judge to be of public interest, and no submission is required. The service is built around B2B engagement: manufacturers who want a verified rating typically have a sustainability, sourcing, or product team that can provide the underlying data.

7. How can businesses use Resourcehip ratings?

Procurement and category teams use generic ratings to set category baselines and compare suppliers against an external reference. Retail buyers use verified ratings as part of ranging decisions, particularly where category-level claims need independent backing. ESG, reporting, and sustainability teams use the seven-dimension breakdown as supporting evidence in supplier scorecards, due diligence files, and voluntary disclosures.

8. What are the current limitations of ratings?

Resourcehip is founder-led and currently ISO 14024-informed, not ISO-certified — the certification pathway includes peer review, an independent Criteria Board, and third-party audit, scheduled across 2026–2028. Category coverage is broad but not exhaustive; we add categories as demand develops. Generic ratings are deliberately conservative — they describe a typical product in the category using cautious assumptions, so they are best read as a floor, not a verdict on any individual product.

9. What is the HIP Mark?

The HIP Mark is the consumer-facing badge that a manufacturer can display on packaging, websites, and marketing materials once their product holds a qualifying verified rating. The closest analogies are FSC for sustainably sourced timber and Fairtrade for ethically sourced food: a small mark that signals an independent rating exists and lets a buyer find the full assessment if they want it. The HIP Mark is licensed by Resourcehip Ltd and tied to a specific verified rating — it is not a self-declaration.

10. How do I contact Resourcehip or request a rating?

For general enquiries: hello@resourcehip.com. For methodology questions or to dispute a rating: methodology@resourcehip.com. For HIP Mark licensing enquiries: licensing@resourcehip.com. To submit a product for a verified rating or request a new category rating, start at the Apply page or email hello@resourcehip.com.