Environmental labeling programs and environmental certification schemes are two tools that have been used to promote environmental responsibility within industry. They are largely voluntary programs that provide consumers with environmental information. By enabling environmental criteria to be considered during purchasing decisions, labeling and certification programs help consumers to “vote through the marketplace” for more environmentally responsible products. Some proponents suggest that these voluntary systems may obviate the need for some environmental regulations. Indeed, many governments are considering restructuring their environmental regulation regimes around these voluntary programs (Roht-Arriaza 1995; ICTSD 1998; OECD 1998). However, the context in which environmental labeling and certification systems are being implemented has changed since the first, Germany’s Blue Angel, was introduced in 1979 (EPA 1998). From: Tom Rotherham, Selling Sustainable Development

Ecolabelling in the Americas

Selling Sustainable Development: Environmental labeling and certification programs (415 kb).
1999. Report for the Meeting of Technical Specialists and Policy Experts on Environmentally Sound Trade Expansion in the Americas

Ecolabelling in China

Ecolabelling: Its Implications for China. 1996. Report for the China Council Working Group on Trade and the Environment