Consumer products and the environment: green labels and claims
Green labelling in the UK
- Defra’s
Shopper's Guide to Green Labels is
a free guide which illustrates the main labelling schemes
and logos on products in the UK.
- The UK operates the European ecolabelling scheme called the Flower, which currently applies to 25 product groups, including fridges, paints and textiles (not food). It is a voluntary scheme and requires independent third party certification.
- The UK does not have its own national ecolabelling scheme of the kind that exists in some other countries (such as Germany and Scandinavia), covering a wide range of products, and requiring independent third party certification. However, a successful UK ecolabelling scheme for tourist accommodation and campsites, the Green Tourism Business Scheme, operates in Scotland and in some parts of England.
- Other environmental labelling schemes in the UK with independent third party certification tend to apply just to a single type of product (such as food or timber), or to certain types of environmental impacts on a particular type of product (such as schemes covering different aspects of textiles).
- These labels are voluntary award-type schemes, which are normally intended to mean that the product has achieved a particular level of environmental credibility, depending on the reputation of the scheme. The label identifies the scheme, and should mean that the product has been checked.
- The European Energy Label is a different kind of label, because it is compulsory on certain types of products (such as washing machines) and presents information in a format which enables consumers to make an easy comparison of the product’s energy efficiency with that of similar products. (The UK Fuel Economy Label for cars has a similar layout, but is actually a voluntary scheme which has been adopted across the UK industry.)
- Green claims are a recognised way for companies to explain the environmental credentials of a product, though they are not usually labels in the sense of having a recognised logo (though some large companies do use their own labelling schemes, with logos). The Government and other bodies have issued advice on the best ways of making such claims.
- All these schemes vary in aspects such as the strictness of their standards and visibility in the marketplace, but the UK has strict legal requirements about the accuracy of claims made about products.
- New environmental labelling and certification schemes on the way in the UK include a Government Quality Assurance Scheme for carbon offsetting. Defra is also working with the Carbon Trust and BS British Standards on a methodology for capturing the carbon footprint of a whole range of consumer items. The Trust’s Carbon Reduction Label is being piloted on a range of items, though decisions about more widescale carbon labelling lie in the future.
- In 2007, Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) arrived in stages – these are the new energy efficiency ratings for UK homes for sale, which use the colours familiar from the EU Energy Label.
Page last modified: 2 May 2008
Page published: 10 November 2005