Download or read book Nordic Swan Ecolabel and Product Environmental Footprint Focus on Product Environmental Information written by Suikkanen, Johanna and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2019-09-27 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this report is to compare the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and the Product Environmental Footprint with a focus on environmental information. The report compares the methods used by the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and the PEF to identify the product-group-specific relevant environmental aspects. The analysis is based on the currently valid Swan Criteria and pilot phase final PEF Category Rules (PEFCRs). The report concludes that there are methodological differences in the way product comparisons are made. The report proposes recommendations for both schemes in terms of co-operation and required further work, related to the differences in methodological approaches, to avoid very different results in what will be considered as an environmentally sound product.

Download or read book Nordic Swan Ecolabel and Organisation Environmental Footprint Focus on the organisation environmental information used in the retail sector written by Salo, Hanna and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2019-09-27 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF) initiative of the European Commission and the Nordic Swan Ecolabel both aim at more sustainable consumption and production. We compared the two schemes in relation to their environmental information concerning the retail sector. The Swan aims to push stores to perform better and to help customers make environmental choices, whereas the OEF aims to create a common Life Cycle Assessment based methodology to assess impacts related to a retailer’s product portfolio. Overall, the OEF is considered a broader approach still under development, while the Swan is well-known in the Nordics. Their scopes, relevant impact categories and life cycle stages differed. However, climate change, resource use and biodiversity impacts were significant in both schemes. Possible synergies concern criteria setting, measurement and communication.

Download or read book Product Environmental Information and Product Policies How Product Environmental Footprint PEF changes the situation written by Nissinen, Ari and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2019-11-18 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reliable information is needed to drive the market towards ecologically sound products. Product Environmental Footprint has many properties that are new to the Life Cycle Assessment tradition, increasing the consistency, accuracy and comparability of the results. It is important to start the organization of the PEF scheme, and invest in efforts to rapidly increase the number of product and service groups and actual product-specific PEF reports involved in the PEF scheme. Possibilities for common information basis and coordination between environmental information sources for the various product policy instruments and the PEF should be explored. Cooperation between type 1 eco-labels like the Nordic Swan and the forthcoming PEF scheme(s) is important.

Download or read book Circular Economy and the Nordic Swan Ecolabel written by Johanna Suikkanen and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2017-09-20 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transition to Circular Economy necessitates right incentives for choosing products and services with lower environmental impacts, in the form of price signals and sufficient environmental information. An ecolabel indicates that the product is, environmentally speaking, among the best products available on the market and thus has the role to steer stepwise developments towards sustainability. The Swan criteria promote quality products with requirements on durability and the use of secondary raw materials. To further align the criteria with Circular Economy, future criteria development might focus more on aspects including upgradability, reparability, multi-functionality, component reuse and innovative forms of consumption and production. This report was prepared as part of a Nordic project, and the results could be useful in the development of the Nordic Ecolabel in the future.

Download or read book The Nordic Swan From past experiences to future possibilities written by and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report presents the third evaluation of the Nordic Swan ecolabelling scheme. The evaluation is conducted from the perspective of the public administration, and it examines the role of the Nordic Swan in a policy context. Recommendations are presented for authorities in the Nordic countries and for the bodies operating the schemes on a Nordic and national level. The evaluation focuses on current opportunities and challenges in the operating environment of the scheme. It examines the relations between the Nordic Swan and the EU Eco-label in the Nordic countries, including their governance procedures, popularity and reception in the market. Other current topics addressed include the progress achieved by the Nordic marketing strategy for the Swan and some current governance issues in the scheme, including the grounds for public funding for the Nordic Swan. The report also analyses the relations between the Swan and other environmental information systems. In particular, the report investigates the opportunities and challenges ensuing from the current attention to climate issues for the Nordic Swan.

Download or read book Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental Footprint Case study of Nordic textile and IT companies written by Salo, Hanna and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2019-09-27 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental FootprintThe report examines the implementation of ecodesign and green innovations inNordic textile and IT companies. The findings of this report are: 1) The respondents are fairly mature in terms of how they integratedenvironmental sustainability into their operations. Companies are mainlydriven by general willingness but deterred by cost increases. 2) Companies remain focused on technical innovations, whereas functionalinnovations are lagging behind. 3) Ecodesign tools and research and development activities are highly relevantfor promoting innovations. 4) The main tools used are Type I Ecolabels, Life Cycle Assessment and CarbonFootprint. 5) Few respondents are familiar with PEF, but many are interested in it. PEF is predominantly seen as a way to evaluate the accuracy of environmentalproduct claims.

Download or read book Evaluation of the Environmental Effects of the Swan Eco label written by and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2001 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book 30 Years of Swan history Anniversary report for the Nordic ecolabel written by Lien, Tormod and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an account of the Swan label’s first thirty years, written in chronological order with short chapters each illustrating various aspects of the scheme. There are few areas of public life in which there have been so many vague pronouncements as for environmental protection. Perhaps that’s because it’s so easy to agree on the goals, but sohard to find the right solutions and practise what you preach. Here at the Nordic Swan, we’ve done things properly from dayone by setting concrete, measurable environmental performance requirements and turning the environment into a competitive advantage. There have been many conflicts and disagreements, but no one can deny that ecolabelling has led to significant environmental improvements. The Nordic region with its 30 million people is the world’s twelfthlargest economy, and this makes a difference when businesses plan product changes and marketing campaigns. The label is a success far beyond the borders of the Nordic region.

Download or read book Policies to Reduce Microplastics Pollution in Water Focus on Textiles and Tyres written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-20 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Microplastics are ubiquitous in the natural environment. This report synthesises the current state of knowledge on the sources, fate and risks of microplastics pollution. It then focuses on two sources of microplastics pollution, textile products and vehicle tyres, due to their substantial contribution to global microplastics emissions and currently largely absent policy frameworks to mitigate them.

Download or read book The Swan Label from a Consumer and Environmental Perspective written by and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2001 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Circular Economy and the Nordic Swan Ecolabel written by Ari Nissinen and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transition to Circular Economy necessitates right incentives for choosing products and services with lower environmental impacts, in the form of price signals and sufficient environmental information. An ecolabel indicates that the product is, environmentally speaking, among the best products available on the market and thus has the role to steer stepwise developments towards sustainability. The Swan criteria promote quality products with requirements on durability and the use of secondary raw materials. To further align the criteria with Circular Economy, future criteria development might focus more on aspects including upgradability, reparability, multi-functionality, component reuse and innovative forms of consumption and production. This report was prepared as part of a Nordic project, and the results could be useful in the development of the Nordic Ecolabel in the future.

Download or read book Consumer Perceptions Understanding and Use of Product Related Environmental Information written by Nordisk Ministerråd and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Product-related environmental information is an important policy instrument for a shift towards more sustainable consumption patterns, and such information helps consumers choose environmentally improved products. While ecolabeling has had a particularly strong breakthrough in Nordic markets, a number of other communication modes, such as environmental product declarations and producers' self-declared claims have been applied in both the consumer and business-to-business markets. This report comprises a summary of recent research on how Nordic consumers perceive, understand, and use product-related environmental information. A comprehensive literature review supplemented with expert interviews forms the foundation for this work. The report highlights well-researched areas and proposes areas where deeper knowledge and understanding is required. The research was conducted cooperatively between the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University in Sweden; the National Consumer Research Centre in Finland; and Environice in Iceland with the purpose to obtain and present a comprehensive picture of the situation in the Nordic countries.

Download or read book The Future of Eco labelling written by Frieder Rubik and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eco-labelling is one of the key tools used by policy-makers in many parts of the world to encourage more sustainable production and consumption. By providing environmental information on products and services, eco-labels address both business users and consumers and range from mandatory approaches, such as required product declarations, to voluntary approaches, such as national eco-labels. Eco-labels can play an important role in environmental policy. They reward and promote environmentally superior goods and services and offer information on quality and performance with respect to issues such as health and energy consumption. Eco-labels fit well into a multi-stakeholder policy framework – as promulgated recently by the EU's integrated product policy (IPP) – since the development of criteria for labels and the acceptance in the market requires the involvement of a wide range of different parties, from government and business, to consumers and environmental organisations. However, many eco-labelling schemes have had troubled histories, and questions have been raised about their effectiveness. So, are eco-labels an effective tool to foster the development, production, sale and use of products and to provide consumers with good information about the environmental impacts of those products? Is eco-labelling useful to business as a marketing tool? What factors contribute to the development of successful schemes? More than ten years after its establishment, can the EU Flower be considered a success? Are national eco-labels such as the German Blue Angel and the Norwegian White Swan more effective? Should eco-labels be harmonised? Are eco-labels achieving their original aim of fostering sustainable production and consumption? For which product groups are ISO type I eco-labels appropriate and inappropriate? Are other labels, such as mandatory, ISO type II and ISO type III labels more effective in some cases? Are eco-labels focusing on the main environmental policy targets or just on "low-hanging fruit"? Are eco-labels really linked to other tools of IPP? The Future of Eco-labelling provides answers to all of these questions. Based on a major EU research exercise, the book plots a course for policy-makers to address some of the historic problems with eco-labelling, to learn what works and what doesn't and to move forward with schemes that can make a real difference to sustainable production and consumption.The book analyses the conditions under which eco-labelling schemes-both mandatory and voluntary-are or can become an efficient and effective tool to achieve given objectives; assesses previous experiences with eco-labels in different European countries and the relationship of these schemes with business strategies, IPP and market conditions; defines strategies aimed at linking eco-labels with other IPP measures; explores how eco-labels can be used to encourage sustainable consumption patterns, create green markets, foster innovation and development of green products and services, and implement multi-stakeholder initiatives; and sets out detailed recommendations for the future of eco-labelling.The book will be required reading for policy-makers, businesses involved with eco-labelling schemes and researchers interested in the development of sustainable production and consumption and IPP worldwide.

Download or read book The Nordic Swan 2015 written by Åke Thidell and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2015-04-08 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nordic Swan is a voluntary environmental and consumer policy instrument that was launched in the Nordic countries in 1989. This study has its origin in the discussions on the making of the “Vision 2015” for the Nordic Swan as well as in a growing need to find structured methods to account for what the ecolabel does. The study has the overall purpose to highlight the experiences of using indicators for reporting, which actors that should be targeted and their need of information, and also to propose a set of indicators applicable specifically for the Nordic Swan. It is proposed in the report that the Nordic Swan scheme prioritizes developing indicators to track changes in internal performance and efficiency. The project was financed by the Nordic Council of Environmental Ministers´ (NCM) working group for sustainable consumption and production (HKP-gruppen).

Download or read book Integrated Product Policy 2019 written by Preben Kristensen and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European Commission adopted in January 2015 an Action Plan for the Circular Economy. The plan suggest measures for how the market may significantly contribute to a circular economy. Now the methodological fundament needed has been finally established and it remain for the new Commission to demonstrate how the toolbox may be applied in a coherent and effective European product policy. The toolbox is the result of nearly 15 years of work and comprises harmonized guidelines for lifecycle based assessment of environmental footprints within specific product categories (PEFCR) and organization sectors (OEFSR) and also guidelines for 3rd party verification, benchmarking and communication. The guidelines have been tested in more than 20 pilot projects representing more than 50% of the respective (European) supply chains regarding product categories like dairy, shoes and textiles. The guidelines build upon lifecycle based Product and Organizational Environmental Footprint (PEF and OEF) standards developed by the Commission and published in Off. Jour. in 2013. By the use of the developed toolbox it is now for the first time possible uniquely at the European market to define and credible communicate what is “a green product” and what is not. The paper discusses possible measures for how to apply the toolbox in establishing and implementing a coherent new European product policy with objectives to significantly reduce especially products environmental (and climate) footprints in the future

Download or read book How Central Authorities Can Support Ecodesign written by Bernan and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eco-design presents an integrated approach to develop products with as small environmental footprint as possible taking a life-cycle perspective. However, still, the vast majority of manufacturing companies do not use eco-design, or at least they do not use it in their marketing. Taking a company perspective, this report tries to understand why. Its ambition has been to identify and explain the incentives companies have for implementing eco-design practices in their product development. Ultimately, the report is trying to answer the question on how authorities can use these incentives to better support eco-design. The findings presented in the report are based on interviews with Nordic manufacturing companies, experts in the field and a literature survey. Conclusions are followed by general recommendations on how to stimulate the use of eco-design in companies.

Download or read book Integrated Life Cycle and Risk Assessment for Industrial Processes and Products written by Guido Sonnemann and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-10-10 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life-cycle assessment is a methodology used to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product, process, or service during its life cycle, and risk assessment is a tool to evaluate potential hazards to human health and the environment introduced by pollutant emissions. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals call for, among other objectives, responsible consumption and production by decoupling environmental resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth and human well-being. Life-cycle assessment and risk assessment are both analytical system approaches that allow scientists and other decision makers to address these issues and objectives according to the current understanding of environmental mechanisms. This book is the first attempt to illustrate the existing interfaces between life-cycle assessment and risk assessment and to indicate options for further integration of both tools. The second edition: Focuses on sustainability Considers new developments in life-cycle assessment and environmental risk assessment over the last ten years at the international level Introduces broader concepts and discussions on integrative versus the complementary use of life-cycle and risk assessments Extends the scope of integrated life-cycle and risk assessments to critical raw materials Includes more case studies and discusses engineered nanomaterials Featuring contributions from leading experts, Integrated Life-Cycle and Risk Assessment for Industrial Processes and Products is a great reference for graduate students and professionals in environmental management and intends to catalyze communication between life-cycle assessment and risk assessment experts and scientists in academia, industry, and governmental agencies. The practical format of the book—illustrated with flowcharts, examples, exercises, and concrete applications—makes it a useful manual for analyzing situations and making decisions.