EC proposes methods to measure environmental performance of products

The European Commission is proposing EU-wide methods to measure the environmental performance of products and organisations, and encouraging Member States and the private sector to take them up. Nowadays companies wanting to highlight the environmental performance of their products face numerous obstacles. They have to choose between several methods promoted by governments and private initiatives, they are often forced to pay multiple costs for providing environmental information, and they face the mistrust of consumers confused by too many labels with information that makes products difficult to compare.
According to the latest Eurobarometer on Green Products, 48 % of European consumers are confused by the stream of environmental information they receive. Calls have also come from several industrial federations for a pan-European approach built on EU-wide science-based assessments and Life Cycle Analysis. They expressed fears that multiple initiatives at Member State level would run contrary to Single Market principles, confusing consumers and increasing costs for industry (Press Release European Commission, 9 April 2013).