China 
Africa 
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Life Cycle Tools
Published in Surjya Narayana Pati, Life Cycle Assessment, 2022
As public concerns about the state of the environment have become increasingly pronounced and consumers are more demanding and environmentally conscious, enterprises have also placed a larger focus on quantifying their environmental performance, using LCA and communicating results to publicly brand their enterprise as “green.” “Green” and “climate change” are two buzzwords for all activities of society. Most of the company’s expectation for the use of LCA is not to get a competitive advantage but to increase the company’s image or reputation in contributing for environmental excellence. It helps in mitigating climate change for sustainability. Ecolabels or environmental product declarations can establish good environmental performance and be used to make a given product more appealing for environmentally conscious consumers.
Things
Published in Paul Micklethwaite, Beyond Recycling, 2021
EKOCYCLE exploits existing brand value to create an identity for aspirational recycled consumerism. The brand and its featured products retain a conventional visual aesthetic. As with Emeco’s chairs, these products do not look recycled. EKOCYCLE wants to surprise us with the unexpected origins of its branded clothing. That companies such as Patagonia have been making similar garments for years is immaterial. Now we have the power of celebrity on our side. Actors and sportspeople have long been used to sell us every kind of consumable item, from cigarettes to health insurance. Celebrities are now identified as the producers of products, owning or fronting-up the company that makes them. EKOCYCLE does not make anything, however. It is an identity that champions a range of products from other brands. It is an ecolabel for recycled products, its status deriving from its founders. Consumer interest in recycled products is encouraged by their endorsement by trusted brands with no history in this area. Ecolabels are usually bestowed by non-governmental organisations and industry associations. These are here replaced by figureheads of lifestyle brand culture. Closing the loop by buying recycled products is presented as part of a quest to make sustainable living cool. The language of activism is allied to that of desire. Even more so than FREITAG, EKOCYCLE wants to put recycled content products squarely within mainstream aspirational brand culture.
Marketing, communication and sustainable consumption
Published in Sigrun M. Wagner, Business and Environmental Sustainability, 2020
Claims in advertising environmental characteristics of goods or services cover several categories: product or service claims, process claims, image and social claims (Fogel 2016). The use of labels and certification can particularly underpin product and process claims and can provide a means of verifying these. Consumers are faced with confusing labels and complexity when it comes to green product claims which, when simplified, can lead to trade-offs between different environmental benefits (Scales 2018). This provides a challenge for companies when consumers feel they cannot trust or differentiate different claims that are possibly “misleading corporate spin” or authentic environmental improvements (Bowen 2018: 689). Trust is therefore key when establishing markets for green products, which can be supported by certification and control that is trustworthy and effectively communicated (Nuttavuthisit and Thøgersen 2017). While trust can for example be established through branding and name recognition, further credibility can be ascertained through verification of compliance with eco-label criteria (Schaltegger et al. 2003). Such labels in effect relieve consumers of the challenge of verifying green product claims whilst providing a means of product differentiation for companies (Gershoff and Irwin 2012; Weybrecht 2014).
Towards greener trade and global supply chain environmental accounting. An embodied environmental resources blockchain design
Published in International Journal of Production Research, 2023
Another commercial and stakeholder value from this BC EER trade framework design in green supply chains is through green label and certification companies (eco-labels). Eco-labels contribute to sustainability in at least three ways (Batzarova 2020): (1) help mitigate adverse environmental and social impacts in supply chains; (2) enhance knowledge and perception of product characteristics; and (3) reduce information asymmetry along the supply chain by providing environmental information for particular product or a service – these are similar advantages and contributions as blockchain enabled information. In this case, eco-label organisations can utilise the blockchain data to further enhance their offerings. Eco-label organisations can also help in this system as stakeholders who not only use data, but also provide or validate data – as certification agents. Managing processes to fit within eco-label requirements becomes more manageable.
Green supply chain contracts with eco-labels issued by the sales platform: profitability and environmental implications
Published in International Journal of Production Research, 2020
Xiaolong Guo, Lihong Cheng, Jie Liu
Different from conventional quality attributes, the greenness of a product is difficult for consumers to observe directly (Baksi and Bose 2007). Therefore, manufacturers need to not only produce green products but also show their environmental efforts to consumers through tools that help buyers make environment-friendly choices. Some research shows that using an eco-label is an effective strategy to publicise the environmental impact information of products to consumers (Murali, Lim, and Petruzzi 2019). Eco-labels are labels put onto products that meet certain environmental standards, indicated by a graphic affixed to the packaging of qualified products. For enterprises, such labels can help to gain consumer trust and successfully carry out green marketing1. According to the Carbon Trust survey performed by Morrison (2011), 47% of the interviewed consumers are willing to pay more for a labelled product than a non-labelled one with the same quality. As a result, firms generally affix eco-labels to their products, labels which are either produced by themselves (referred to as self-labels) or obtained from nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). Self-labels are extensively adopted by retailers thanks to their accessibility. For example, Whole Foods Market and Walmart self-label their green products as ‘Responsibly Grown’ and ‘Natural’, respectively. However, consumers do not necessarily fully trust in the greenness of self-labelled products; the level of trust depends on the firms' reputation. This situation may result in undervaluation of the product (Horne 2009; Murali, Lim, and Petruzzi 2019). In comparison, eco-labels endorsed by NGOs are much more trusted by consumers (Fischer and Lyon 2014). For instance, PG Tips adopts the Rainforest Alliance label, and Co-operative (Twinings and Taylors of Harrogate) displays the Fair Trade label (Heyes and Martin 2016). However, the drawback of eco-labels from NGOs is that the standards are relatively low, such labels cannot display the specific green information of each product, and the NGOs are out of touch with sales.