Environmental and sustainability labelling. Liazzat Rabbiosi

Transcription

1 Environmental and sustainability labelling Liazzat Rabbiosi

2 What are they Environmental/sustainability labelling, standards, product declarations voluntary initiatives to differentiate products based on their environmental/sustainability characteristics Business: measure performance and communicate environmental credentials Consumers: guide their purchasing choice Governments : buy and persuade behavioural change towards long-term sustainability policy objective Environmental information tools as an interface between production and consumption patterns

3 How they function Provide information on the world behind the products Use environmental and ethical values of consumers as a market incentive for producers to improve their environmental and social performance Provide competitive advantage for producers in the market place Potential for environmental upgrading across the value chain life cycle of products Dynamic displacement process continuous improvement

4 ISO Types of Environmental Labelling ISO all Types ISO Type I: multi-criteria, multi-sectoral third party certified easy aid for consumers ISO Type II - self declared risk of greenwashing ISO Type III product declarations, similar to nutritional values matrix, based on LCA B2B or on certain durable products Type I like: single attribute or single sector

5 Examples of Type I ecolabels easy aid for consumers

6 Type I like ecolabels

7 Type II self-declarations risk of greenwashing

8 Environmental Product - Type III Declaration and Indicators Carbon Footprint Biodiversity B2B or on certain durable products Water Footprint

9 Elements of labelling mandatory or voluntary # of attributes # of sectors degree of independence type of label (information, relative rating, leadership)

10 Labelling as a policy instrument A prototype of modern governance based on transparency, participatory and shared responsibility new environmental policy Due to innovative nature and multidimensional character important in environmental policy making Also used and consulted as a tool to implement GPP/SPP Big commercial and institutional entities use for benchmarking

11 Policy landscape of the EU ecolabel Frameworks Lisbon Strategy Environmental Action Plan EU SDS Climate change CSR Waste Thematic strategies and policies EU FLOWER IPPC WEEE & RoHS REACH Strategic Approaches SCP Action Plan Integrated Product Policy

12 Use in GPP ecolabelling can play an important strategic role to help the widespread and better application of GPP within the existing legal framework ecolabels - baseline to outline and to comply with the technical specifications within the tendering process, means of verification and benchmarking as developments on the implementation of IPP/SCP in EU show that the level of GPP implementation strongly correlates to existence/absence of an ecolabel scheme example of 5 Green best performing EU countries - creation of national ecolabelling schemes was mentioned as a starting point to develop also national GPP policies and programmes

13 Example: German Blue Angel clear indication on this correlation, because the introduction of the Blue Angel in 1978 was the starting point for nearly all relevant policies on products and sustainable consumption in Germany development is underlined through the fact, that the competence gathered within the development of the ecolabel was transferred into a wider competence of GPP application capacity building on ecolabelling is at least a core element towards a capacity building on GPP, starting with the products in place covered by the ecolabel from an economical point of view, the public investment which is spent for the creation of an ecolabelling scheme could be used also for the needed public investment for GPP (e.g. criteria development) requirement for this synergy is that the development of ecolabel criteria should anticipate the special needs and requirements of GPP (e. g. synchronisation of information) due to the presence of an ecolabel scheme the obstacles to implement GPP could be seen as lower, because networks and institutional procedures are already in place to some extent

14 Ecolabel and Market Incentive Programmes to boost the development of eco-innovation and the market diffusion of environmental-friendly technologies and products, countries introduced market incentive programmes as instrument to help industry, private investors, and consumers to cut costs while choosing green alternatives state aid programmes have become important in the field of climate change policy, like the energetically modernization of old buildings, or the application of solar/photovoltaic panels within these market incentive programmes, ecolabels could be introduced as reference to a specific technical standard which must be comply with while receiving the financial grant in Germany, for example, the Blue Angel criteria for the various types of energy efficient heating systems was introduced, because the criteria sets a benchmark which lies 30% over the threshold required by legislation the ecolabel was used as benchmark and possibility to show compliance with the standards (note: the use of the eco-label itself was not mandatory in the programme

15 Economic Instruments and ecolabelling combining economic instruments with ecolabelling may increase the effectiveness of the policy mix to stimulate the demand for green products a labelling system can help increase the effectiveness of a tax by providing better information to the users on relevant characteristics of different products the tax applies to, e.g. the energy efficiency of appliances this will increase the price-sensitivity of demand for the product economic instruments, like taxes and market incentive programmes as incentives to companies and consumers to support the market diffusion of ecolabelled products, like the ongoing controversial debate on a VAT reduction on EU eco-labelled products within the European Union

16 Promoting Ecolabels through Education ecolabelling as become part of the various concepts of consumer education, education for sustainable development, or education for sustainable consumption Example: Teaching Materials `Blue Angel goes to School` (Germany) school materials for primary and secondary schools to create basic knowledge of ecolabelling and environmental problems, sustainable products and environmental product policy which relates to the daily reality of the students and age groups. Example: an ecolabel for schools (Austria launched in 2002) An ecolabel for schools to promote greening activities and environmental education, and to create a positive social environment within the school criteria consist of the following aspects: environmental management, information and social aspects education for environment health protection, ergonomic and indoor quality energy use and savings, construction transport and mobility procurment and school materials food and cantine chemical products and cleaning water use and waste water, waste reduction outdoor area

17 Thank you!