Eco-labelling: success or failure?

Camilla C. Erskine and Lyndhurst Collins
Additional contact information
Camilla C. Erskine: University of Edinburgh
Lyndhurst Collins: University of Edinburgh

Environment Systems and Decisions, 1997, vol. 17, issue 2, 125-133

Abstract: Abstract Eco-labelling was identified in Agenda 21 as a way of encouraging consumers to alter their consumption patterns and to make wiser use of resources and energy in the drive for sustainable development into the next century. A European-wide eco-labelling scheme was introduced by the European Commission (EC) in 1992 as part of its fifth and most recent Environmental Action Plan, the focus of which is also sustainability. The EC eco-labelling scheme aims to promote products with reduced environmental impacts throughout their life cycle and to provide consumers with better information about the environmental impact of products. This paper assesses whether eco-labelling is an effective means of improving the environment, using the eco-labelling of paper products as a case study. Paper products are examined because the development of their ecolabelling criteria has been a particularly complex and contentious issue. Moreover, although criteria have now been adopted for three groups of paper products, controversy has dominated the criteria-setting process and debate continues about the relevance of the selected criteria. It is concluded that while the concept of eco-labelling is good, the practical application of the concept is not straightforward. Furthermore, at present, there is little evidence of eco-labelling benefitting the environment.

Keywords: Life Cycle; Environmental Management; Environmental Impact; Sustainable Development; European Commission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1023/A:1018552000651 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:envsyd:v:17:y:1997:i:2:d:10.1023_a:1018552000651

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer.com/journal/10669

DOI: 10.1023/A:1018552000651

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment Systems and Decisions from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().