European Organic Labeling (Ecolabel)
Introduction
Eco-friendly labels or eco-labels are a form of labeling that refers to the environmental performance of a product and is usually represented by symbols. The main objective of these tools is to ensure truthful and reliable environmental communication, avoiding greenwashing (that is, avoiding bias or deception in the environmental information provided by organizations). The aim is to favor those products that produce a lower impact on the environment, considered with a life cycle approach "Life cycle (environment)").
The origins of ecolabels can be found in the growing global awareness of protecting the environment by governments, businesses and the general public. Initially and especially in developed countries, some companies recognized that this global awareness could generate a competitive advantage for certain products. Labels with expressions such as “recyclable”, “low energy” and “recycled content” were then included.
In the 1990s, the European Union established a first unified system "Ecolabel" or European Ecological Label,[1] with the purpose of avoiding unfair competition with misleading or non-comparable statements referring to partial attributes. It is a voluntary system that many corporations and brands have preferred to ignore in favor of their own references and self-certifications that lead to greenwashing situations. In response to this practice, in 2024, "Directive (EU) 2024/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of February 28, 2024, amending Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU with regard to the empowerment of consumers for the ecological transition through better protection against unfair practices and through better information" is approved.
Labels and claims allow consumers to choose products based on their environmental performance, as a way to reduce environmental impacts through their consumption habits. In order to guarantee reliable communication between society and companies regarding environmentally friendly consumption, three types of labels or declarations were defined through ISO International Standards.[2].