Eco Labels

What makes a good eco-label?

Below are the criteria we use at Consumers Union to evaluate eco-labels. Generally, the best eco-labels are seals or logos indicating that an independent organization has verified that a product meets a set of meaningful and consistent standards for environmental protection and/or social justice.

Meaningful and verifiable: Eco-labels should have a set of environmentally meaningful standards. These standards should be verifiable by the certifier or another independent inspection organization.

Consistent and clear: An eco-label used on one product should have the same meaning if used on other products. Standards should be written in a way that can be verified in a consistent manner so that the label is consistent in meaning among different products.

Transparency: The organization behind an eco-label should make information about organizational structure, funding, board of directors, and certification standards available to the public. If such information is withheld, it is difficult to determine the meaning and clarity of the standards or the independence of the certifying organization.

Independent and protected from conflict of interest: Organizations establishing standards and deciding who can use a logo should not have any ties to, and should not receive any funding from the sale of certified products or contributions from logo users beyond fees for certification. Employees of companies whose products are certified, or applying for certification should not be on the board of directors of the certifier (and no one affiliated with the certifier should be on the board of directors of the organization being certified). Some certifying organizations have explicit conflict of interest policies prohibiting such affiliations.

Opportunities for public comment: All certification standards should be developed with input from multiple stakeholders including consumers, industry, environmentalists and social representatives in a way that doesn't compromise the independence of the certifier. For example, industry representatives can play an important advisory role without having direct financial, decision making or management ties to the certifier.

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