Eco-labels

Eco-labels have become a very popular marketing tool for manufacturers and service providers who focus on the environmental consumer niche.

There are a few different ways to think about environment labels on the goods and services available to consumers. The term eco-label is very specific. Technically, an eco-label implies the endorsement of the good or service in question by an independent third party, after the third party has used a specific set of environment criteria to test it. The types of testing done on any product are specific to the product's life-cycle. When you look at the label, think of it as a pictorial representation of the environmental issues associated with its production.

For example, the Dolphin Safe label pictured here is one very common eco-label. It indicates that the tuna in the can was caught using fishing methods that follow the current U.S. law on dolphin protection.

The type of claim made by the dolphin-safe label is a limited life cycle product endorsement. While the label provides the consumer with some general knowledge about the tuna fishing industry, it does not include the story leading up to the enactment of the law, see The Tuna-Dolphin Issue. Also, the label does not address other potential environmental aspects of tuna consumption such as mercury content.

Consumers can easily be confused by the many different labels on the goods they buy, and there is no easy way to interpret a label without a handy reference guide. Eco-labels started catching on with the public in the 1970s and the global community soon recognized that the different label criteria in use would be problematic. Consumer confidence in a labeling system required consistency in labeling practices. After a few different attempts, the International Standards Organization (ISO) published a system for organizing the process. In 1999 the ISO defined three different types of environment labels:

• Type I - Eco-labels, independently tested endorsements of a product based on specific criteria
• Type II - self-declarations about a product
• Type II - Third party report on a product. The Audubon Seafood Wallet Card is a good example. It provides a list of fish species arranged in enjoy, be careful and avoid categories, as a tool for advising members about seafood purchases.

Eco-labels is the name for the Type I category of labels. The independent third party sponsor can be either a government or non-government entity. The Global Ecolabelling Network monitors the design and implementation of eco-labeling programs that follow ISO standards in states around the world.

One group of states, the European Union (EU), has an extensive eco-label program that uses a flower symbol as its brand. The program covers a variety of consumer products for the home, office and garden. Competent bodies are hired for research, standard setting and product testing.

In the laundry detergent category, for example, a group from Denmark was authorized by the EU to study the pollution effects associated with different brands. The research group examined the types of chemical residues left by different detergent brands and determined how much pollution such as sewer sludge is, or would be, created by consumers using them. After conducting the research, the body decides on an appropriate standard for the flower label. Laundry detergent manufacturers can then decide whether to apply for flower labels by submitting their products for testing.

While eco-labels have support from many states and environment groups around the world, they also have their detractors. One of the biggest concerns expressed about eco-labels is their potential to be used as non-tariff barriers to trade. The Tuna-Dolphin example from above is one of the more prominent examples where the World Trade Organization ruled that U.S. laws banning the importation of tuna caught using techniques that differed from U.S. practices, violated international trade law.

Eco-labeling is also primarily at home in the industrialized states, with little or no participation from Latin American or African states. Generally developing states with less practice in eco-labeling are hesitant to embrace it. As this FAO document on Product Certification and Ecolabelling for Fisheries Sustainability points out, developing states are concerned about their lack of participation in creating the standards and the costs of implementing those already in place.

© 2006. Patricia A. Michaels