Does the Ecomark label promote environmentally improved products in India and what experiences can be drawn from the Nordic Ecolabel?

Abstract

Ecolabels are used to give consumers information about the environmental impact of products and thereby give an informed choice and an incentive to the consumer to choose the ecolabelled product. The environmental effectiveness of ecolabels ultimately relies on consumers’ willingness to pay extra for a product with a lower environmental impact than alternative products. Various ecolabels exist throughout the world, but the difference between the successful and the noneffective ecolabels is large. This paper compares a best practice example of an ecolabel with a less successful ecolabel—each belonging to a different region of the world. Firstly we analyse, the ability of the Indian “Ecomark” label to promote environmentally improved products in India. The Ecomark scheme was launched in 1991, however the Ecomark label currently remains a nonstarter, with little awareness and no real consumer demand. India’s Ecomark scheme has been analysed in several studies, all of which indicate that the scheme has had some flaws from the outset regarding its basic structure and execution. With a point of departure in these existing studies and further empirical insights from ecolabelling experts in Europe, this paper seeks to identify the differences between the Ecomark label and the second ecolabel under analysis—the much more successful “Nordic Ecolabel” from Scandinavia. The structural differences, selection process for criteria and the demand and awareness of the two ecolabels are analysed, in order to create suggestions of how to learn from the schemes and ensure knowledge transfer, regarding best practice.