Join the Ride with EU Ecolabel Products this Summer

A Showroom on Wheels was unveiled to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the EU Ecolabel. The environmentally conscious caravan is pedalling its way across Europe this summer raising consumer awareness of the label’s over 89,000 offerings.

Debuted Tuesday as part of the European Commission’s celebration of the EU Ecolabel’s 30th anniversary and EU Green Week 2022, the Showroom on Wheels spins discussion around the EU Ecolabel’s 30-year ride on sustainable products. The campaign highlights the EU Ecolabel’s growing list of over 89,000 products available for consumers across EU member states.

Attendees of the launch event on Tuesday observed the Showroom on Wheels in action – an electric bicycle branded with the EU Ecolabel pulls a Caravan filled with Ecolabel’s certified products. Products range from clothing options to sustainable dish soap and laundry detergents. The display raises awareness of Ecolabel’s efforts to bring environmentally conscious product offerings to European consumers. 

The Showroom on Wheels will travel across Europe to countries including Germany, Hungary and more, before returning to Brussels for World Ecolabel Day on October 13th, 2022.

“The 30th anniversary of the EU Ecolabel is a big milestone,” said Miriam Thiemann, a campaigner with the EEB and BEUC.

“The EEB and BEUC have contributed to the development of the EU Ecolabel since its start. In times of ever-present greenwashing, this label is a reliable guide for consumers to choose products that live up to the green claims mentioned on the packaging. And due to its ambitious criteria, the EU Ecolabel stands for a reduced environmental impact and the exclusion of hazardous substances,” Thiemann continued.

High standards for better products

The EU Ecolabel was established in 1992 to inform businesses and consumers of products that have less environmental impacts than their market counterparts.

To display the EU Ecolabel, businesses must perform within the top 10% to 20% of the label’s rigorous admissions standards. This ensures a standard of quality that consumers can be confident in.

Before products can display the signature EU Ecolabel logo, they must be vetted through a rigorous review of their life cycle. The programme ensures sustainability throughout a product’s lifecycle, from its production to recycling or disposal.

Civil society organisations such as the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) help define the EU Ecolabel standards to guarantee it respects the environment as well as consumer rights. This is reflected in the quality of labelled products, which meet standards above the minimum set out by EU Regulations.

At the launch event of Showroom on Wheels, Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director General for the Environment at the European Commission, called the EU Ecolabel a “symbol of excellence”.

Florika Fink-Hooijer, European Commission’s Director General for the Environment, at the launch event of the Showroom on Wheels

A Growing Market

A 2020 study conducted by the European Commission states that a “large majority of people in all EU countries say protecting the environment is important to them personally”.

The most effective way to protect the environment is to “change the way we consume,” the study finds.

By increasing awareness of the EU Ecolabel program through a bike-powered campaign, the “Showroom on Wheels” empowers consumers to break the cycle of unsustainable shopping and make informed decisions about the products they buy. 

However, it is not always easy for consumers to buy sustainably. The EU Ecolabel’s mission helps consumers identify products that are respectful of people and nature, through a trustworthy certification.

Sustainable product offerings have grown substantially in the past thirty years of the EU Ecolabel’s existence, and the label’s certifications have expanded from about 45,000 products in 2016 to nearly 90,000 today. 

The EU Ecolabel is an important tool for verifying top performing products with lower environmental impact. The label is a necessary step to achieve a circular and less harmful economy.