Eco-Labeling

Eco-labeling refers to the procedure for labeling products intended to inform consumers whether the product lives up to specified environmental standards. The standards are defined by a third party, often a nonprofit organization including both public authorities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), that also controls and certifies the products. The eco-label is a tool to help concerned consumers choose the most environmentally sound products available.

There are different types of consumer products, and there are also different kinds of eco-labels. The oldest is the Demeter label established by the Steiner movement in the 1920s for food produced by biodynamic farming methods. In the 1970s, organic farming flourished in many Western countries as a social-ecological movement and different national NGOs initiated national labels. In 1972, some of these movements joined the International Federation of Organic Agriculture (IFOA), and in the early 1990s, IFOA played a strong role in establishing EU regulation on organic farming and labeling. Another type of eco-label focuses on products like cleansing agents, papers, and so on, gradually expanding to include ever more product types. The German “Blue Angel” from 1978 is the first eco-label of this sort, and in the next ten to fifteen years followed a lot of both national and regional labels: the U.S. Green Seal (1989), the Japanese Eco-mark (1989), the Nordic Swan (1989), and the European Flower (1993). In 1994, the nonprofit organization Global Ecolabelling Network was established, and in 2009, more than twenty eco-labeling programs from all over the world were members. Energy-consuming appliances have their own label systems like the EU Energy Arrows (1992), which, contrary to other eco-labels, is mandatory for all appliances put on the market in the European Union, or the U.S. Energy Star (1993). Both focus on energy consumption during the use phase rather than the production of the products. Finally, there are also stewardship labels related to forest and marine use, focusing on how to prevent the “tragedy of the commons,” meaning exploitation and destruction of common natural ecosystems we all are dependent on. Also, here the initiative and the third-party control often lies with NGOs like Forest Stewardship Council, an international organization established in 1993 representing social, environmental, and business interests in forestry.

Development of eco-labels took place concurrently with more general shifts in environmental policy that went from focusing on pollution prevention to cleaner production and then to focus on sustainable consumption. This shift represents an acknowledgement of the fact that it is not enough to focus on how things are produced; the consumption itself, including the amount of consumed items, their use, and their disposal, is of equal environmental importance. Concurrently with this shift of focus, a regulatory shift [Page 484]occurs from command and control toward voluntary agreements, also called “from government to governance.” Eco-labeling is part of the new environmental policy instruments, together with other types of voluntary agreements, eco-taxis, and tradable permits, which have been described as market-based, cost-effective, flexible, and consumer-driven instruments.

Eco-labeling should also be seen in relation to developments in consumer culture and consumer politics. Political consumerism is not a new phenomenon, though it has become ever more widespread together with trends such as globalization of production, individualization in late-modern society, and risk handling in everyday life. Political consumption includes both boycotts and “buycotts,” and for the latter, the consumer needs information, such as eco-labels, when choosing between different products to determine which of them is the better according to political, moral, or environmental arguments. Eco-labels can also be regarded like other aspects of consumer culture where different types of consumers buy different products as expressions of different tastes and lifestyles. Thus, buying eco-labeled products can be a political or moral statement as well as a lifestyle message to other consumers. Consumer studies show that certain consumer groups (middle-aged, well-educated, leftist women) have a higher tendency to buy eco-labeled products than others.

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