Ecolabel

Ecolabel

Ecolabels and Green Stickers are labelling systems for food and consumer products. Ecolabels are often voluntary, but green stickers are mandated by law in North America for major appliances and automobiles. They are a form of sustainability measurement directed at consumers, intended to make it easy to take environmental concerns into account when shopping. Some labels quantify pollution or energy consumption by way of index scores or units of measurement; others simply assert compliance with a set of practices or minimum requirements for sustainability or reduction of harm to the environment.

Ecolabelling systems exist for both food and consumer products. Both systems were started by NGOs but nowadays the European Union have legislation for the rules of ecolabelling and also have their own ecolabels, one for food and one for consumer products. At least for food, the ecolabel is nearly identical with the common NGO definition of the rules for ecolabelling. Trust in the label is an issue for consumers, as manufacturers or manufacturing associations could set up "rubber stamp" labels to greenwash their products.

M The last few years have seen a few key trends in the ecolabels space. One is the explosion in the numbers of different ecolabeling programs across the world and across business sectors, with many schemes broadening their issues to cover social, ethical and safety issues as well as just environmental. This has led to some confusion and perhaps fatigue amongst consumers and brand awareness of most labels (such as the EU Ecolabels) remains low. A second key trend is the rise in uptake of voluntary ecolabels and sustainability standards by the business-to-business sector. In this space, global firms are demanding that the standards be (a) global in nature and (b) well documented, transparent and trustworthy. This has led to the growth of a few "super standards" which have become major global brands and are likely to edge out some of the smaller standards and labels in place. Key examples are the Fairtrade label, the Forest Stewardship Council for the forestry sector and the Marine Stewardship Council for fish products. All have become well known consumer brands as well as key supplier filters for global buyers. This has led to the emergence of "standards for standards" whereby the organizations setting voluntary ecolabels adhere to guidelines laid down by wider stakeholder bodies such as the ISEAL Alliance.