Abstract
Abstract
The goal of the different national and supranational ecolabelling programs is to encourage consumers to choose products which are the least damaging to the environment. It is clear that the involvement of product and service users is essential to the establishment of sustainable consumption patterns. For this reason, ecolabelling must necessarily limit any risks of uncertainty. To this end, labels must take into account all the impacts of a product’s life cycle and use a reliable and verifiable evaluation method.
In general, the organizations in charge of ecolabelling programs claim that a multi-criteria approach is used to define the exact labelling criteria appropriate for the product categories in question. These organizations generally maintain that their approach is based on the completion of exhaustive and complete life cycle analyses, which take into account all of the impacts caused by a product throughout its life cycle. And yet, the real situation is often far less clear-cut, and these simplified approaches, which tend to reconcile economic realism and methodological coherence, constitute the usual procedure for criteria definition.
Thus, the procedures involved in criteria development often rely on a ‘semi-qualitative’ approach to the life cycle which uses both qualitative and quantitative data in order to identify the product’s significant stages on the environment.
Presently, the ecolabel is a ‘non-verifiable expert property’ for the consumer. The ecolabel’s lack of objectivity in its criteria and its lack of transparency, resulting from non standardized methods whose accuracy cannot be measured, can only damage this sustainable development tool’s credibility. In effect, the primary hindrance to ecolabel development lies precisely within this difficulty of finding a compromise between economic feasibility and the scientific and methodological rigor which are indispensable to the label’s credibility and veracity.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Case DW (2001): The Law and Economics of Environmental Information as Regulation, 31 E.L.R., Washington, D.C., 7-2001, 10773–10789
Sinclair-Desgagné, Goziah E (2003): A Theory of Environmental Risk Disclosure. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 45, 377–393; Tietenberg T, Wheeler D (2001): Empowering the Community Information Strategies for Pollution Control, in Folmer H, Gabel HL, Gerking S, Rose A (eds) (2001): Frontiers of Environmental Economics, Edward Elgar, Northampton, MA
Case DW (2001): The Law and Economics of Environmental Information as Regulation. 31 E.L.R., Washington, D.C., 7-2001, 10773–10789
Royon M (1998): L’émergence de systèmes nationaux de normalisation-certification et leur connexion internationale. Revue internationale de droit économique, no 3, 107–117
Chavagneux C (1998): La montée en puissance des acteurs non- étatiques. In: Jacquet P, Pisani-Ferry J, Tubiana L (eds): Gouvernance mondiale: Rapport de synthèse, Paris, la Documentation française, Conseil d’analyse économique; Cutler AC, Haufler V, Porter T (eds): Private Authority and International Affairs, New York; Suny Press; J.-C. GRAZ, Beyond States and Markets: Comparative and Global Political Economy in the Age of Hybrids. Review of International Political Economy 8 (4) 739-748
Boy L (1998): La valeur juridique de la normalisation, in Clam J, Martin G (1998): Les transformations de la régulation juridique, L.G.D.J., Paris, 183; Boy L (1998): Normes. Revue internationale de droit économique (RIDE), no 2
Graz J-C (2003): La démocratie entrepreneuriale de la normalisation internationale. Presentation at the Colloque international d’Aix-en-Provence, 11–14 septembre 2003, Les normes internationales au XXIe siècle: science politique, philosophie, droit
ISO 14024 (1999): Labeling and Environmental Declarations - Type 1 Environmental Labeling, International Organization for Standardization
ISO 14024 (1999): Section 6.1 Methods, Generalities
ISO 14024 (1999): Section 6.1 Methods, Generalities. ISO 14024 (1999): Section 6.2 Consultation of Interested Parties
Boeglin N (1998): Analyse du cycle de vie: 1a promotion de la qualité écologique des produits et les écolabels. Traité de génie industriel, Techniques de l’ingénieur, Bruxelles, p G6250-4, 7
ISO 14024 (1999): Section 6.3 Product Category Selection - Carrying Out a Feasibility Study
Boy L (1998):L’éco-label communautaire, un exemple de droit postmoderne. Revue internationale de droit économique (R.I.D.E.),69, 70
ISO 14024 (1999): Section 5.4 Taking the Life Cycle into Account
Boeglin N (1998): Analyse du cycle de vie: La promotion de la qualité écologique des produits et les écolabels, loc.cit., note 11, pp 6250–6254
OCDE, Étiquetage écologique: effets réels de certains programmes (OCDE/GD(97)105), 1997, p 26 excerpt from the OCDE web site
ISO 14024 (1999): Section 6.4.1 Choosing Environmental Criteria for Products
Richemont DE (1998): Analyse du cycle de vie, applications dans les écolabels. Traité de génie industriel, Techniques de l’ingénieur, Bruxelles, G5 850, 7; Tanguay F (1996): Maquillage vert ou développement durable: l’entreprise relèvera-t-elle le défi?, in Gendron C, Provost M (dir.) (1996): Entreprise et développement durable, opérationnaliser le développement durable au sein de l’entreprise, Actes du colloque de l’ACFAS, Montréal, 247, 1996
ISO 14024 (1999): Section 7.4.3 Evaluation Methods and Demonstration of Compliance - Supporting Documentation
ISO 14024 (1999): Section 7.5 Supervision of Compliance
ISO 14024 (1997): Section 5.8.1 - Validity of Program Requirements - Validity Period; see Nadaï A (1997): Les conditions de développement d’un écolabel communautaire, Responsabilité et environnement, Annales des Mines, juillet 1997, 15, p 16
Boy L (1998): L’éco-label communautaire, un exemple de droit postmoderne, loc. cit., note 6, p 92
Priest M (1997-1998):The privatization of regulation: five models of self-regulation, Ottawa Law Review 29 (2) 233–267
ISO 14021 (1999): Environmental labeling declarations - Self- declared environmental claims (Type II Labels)
Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act (1985): ch. C-38
Federal Trade Commission Act (1996): Section 5, 15 U.S.C. § 41–58
ISO 14025 (2000): Environmental Labels and Declarations, Type III Environmental Declarations, International Organization for Standardization
Veilleux L (1998): èco-étiquetage: Les programmes de certification et l’industrie des pâtes et papiers, Research Report presented at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières, December 1998
Pontier JM (1996): La certification, outil de la modernité normative. D., 1996, chr. 355, spéc, p. 356; see also: Racine J-B: Normalisation, certification et droit de la concurrence,. R.I.D.E., no 2, 1998; Rampht C (1997): Les systèmes de normalisation et de spécifications dans les appels d’offres internationaux, Rapport du Conseil èconomique et social, J.O., 17 avril 1997
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lavallée, S., Plouffe, S. The ecolabel and sustainable development. Int J LCA 9, 349–354 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02979076
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02979076