Abstract
This article provides a general overview of the technical, economical, regulatory and environmental aspects of ecolabeling. An ecolabel is a market-based policy instrument that can be either voluntarily adopted or mandated by law. Ecolabels are applied to services and products in order to inform consumers of their environmental-friendliness and to avoid market failures. In reality, however, ecolabels do not always succeed in achieving environmental improvements. The mis-use of environmental standards, the practice of strategic manipulations that create trade-distortions, the excessive use of claims, and behavioural biases are some of the factors that can prevent an ecolabel from reaching its initial objective to reduce or even eliminate environmental externalities.
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Ibanez, L. (2019). Ecolables: Are they Environmental-Friendly?. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_520
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_520
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