Products could provide great insight – for instance into the environmental and health effects of certain product characteristics during production, use or disposal. Product labels are the vehicle for communicating these (hidden) product characteristics to consumers. Against this backdrop the goal of this study was to generate findings about the current label landscape in Germany, Sweden and the US and to analyse studies about the effectiveness of labels for consumers. It can be concluded that product labels are an effective instrument for sustainable consumption. They are able to support the integration of environmental or health oriented criteria into consumer decisions. On the other hand, the analysis of effectiveness problems revealed the necessity of further investigations in order to enhance the impact of product labels on consumers.

Download study here (german_pdf)