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Environment
Iconic EU Ecolabel graphic featuring diverse product groups and the EU Ecolabel logo, signifying sustainability
About the EU Ecolabel

The EU official voluntary label for environmental excellence

How the label emerged

Launched more than 30 years ago as the ‘Community Eco-label’, it has become the biggest and best-known scheme in many EU countries. Consumers increasingly look for the ‘EU flower’ on products to guide them towards more sustainable choices. 

With a wide scope of product categories and increasing uptake, the EU Ecolabel attracts more and more manufacturers and retailers to the scheme, which today covers diverse categories and a growing list of product groups

Independent experts help to verify that EU Ecolabel products use sustainable ingredients and avoid hazardous, toxic or otherwise harmful substances. Successful applicants also prove they use minimal, recycled and/or easily to recycle packaging. 

Download the EU Ecolabel leaflet and brochure for more information about the scheme, its history and achievements.

Find out more about celebrations organised for the 30th anniversary of the EU Ecolabel.

EU Ecolabel’s importance in a nutshell

  • Heart-shaped Earth
    Good for people and planet

    Retailers and consumers can trust that labelled goods and services have a lower environmental footprint, generate less waste and CO2 during manufacturing, contain less hazardous chemicals, and they are designed to last longer and be easier to repair.

  • Two people performing a handshake
    Transparent and reliable

    The label is a mark of green excellence and professional discipline thanks to strict criteria developed by the European Commission and Member States with industry, consumer organisations and environmental NGOs.

  • Woman holding European Union flag
    Pan-European

    As the only pan-European Type I ecolabel, it is recognised throughout Europe, thus supporting the Single Market for green products.

  • Shopping cart in supermarket
    Vast choice

    Whether paper, cleaning products, cosmetics, clothes, do-it-yourself materials or hotels, there is a growing list of green product groups now open to certification.

  • Sustainable growth concept with green plants and financial graphs
    Measurable and marketable

    For businesses, displaying ‘the flower’ logo on their products and in their promotional materials has a measurable impact on returns, especially when targets (on circularity, emissions, waste…) are integrated into a company’s sustainability strategy.

  • Green check mark icon on stack of wooden blocks
    Strict criteria

    Awarded products comply with strict criteria for reducing their environmental impact, from the extraction of raw materials to distribution and end-of-life. They must comply with quality requirements and often also respect relevant social criteria.

  • Picture of documents under the magnifying glass
    Independently verified

    An independent third party (‘Competent Body’) ensures that products fully comply with the relevant EU Ecolabel criteria.

  • Hand protects seedlings that are growing
    ISO 14024 compliant

    EU Ecolabel is an ISO 14024 Type 1 ecolabel, which means it is reliable, multi-criteria and third-party verified. Criteria are set with a lifecycle approach through an open, transparent, multi-stakeholder process.

How is the EU Ecolabel structured?

Facts and figures

For the latest facts and figures related to the EU Ecolabel including number of licenses and products you can browse the charts on the facts and figures page.

Eurobarometer survey on the EU Ecolabel

Frequently asked questions

Green Public Procurement

Green Public Procurement (GPP) is a process whereby public authorities seek to procure goods, services and works with a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle when compared to similar goods, services and works that would otherwise be procured. GPP is a voluntary instrument, which means that member states and public authorities can determine the extent to which they implement it.

The Buying Green! Handbook outlines how labels, including the EU Ecolabel, can be used at different stages of the procurement process in more detail.