Assessment of different communication vehicles for providing Environmental Footprint information
The study seeks to enhance the consistency in the presentation of environment-related information and harmonise the various footprint methods currently used in Europe.
How to know what products have more or less impact on the environment? There are various ways in which information about environmental footprint of products is provided. Consumers and businesses would, however, benefit from more unified and transparent information. The current policy context is characterised by the lack of provision of consistent, reliable and clear environmental information, despite a clear interest by consumers and stakeholders. This situation hampers the full uptake of environmentally friendly products, which is a barrier towards a single market for green products. The European Commission has entrusted a consortium to which Open Evidence forms part to test different business-to-business and business-to-consumer communication vehicles. The project aims at enhancing the consistency in the presentation of environment-related information. Its findings will feed into the European Commission’s strategy towards a single market for green products. Within this context, a pilot phase started in November 2013 and will be completed by the end of 2016. Its main goals are to:
- Develop Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules and Organisation Environmental Footprint Sectoral Rules
- Test different compliance and verification systems, in order to set up and validate proportionate, effective and efficient compliance and verification systems
- Test different business-to-business and business-to-consumer communication vehicles in collaboration with stakeholders
The overarching objective of these goals is to harmonise the various footprint methods currently used in Europe, enhance comparability of footprint results and ultimately facilitate a higher uptake of green products in the EU market. The projects feeds into the Single Market for Green Products Initiative.
