The EU Ecolabel, big shovels and the new age of austerity

Tuesday saw a ferociously early start catching the Eurostar to Brussels to be on the jury for the EU Ecolabel Awards. Many years ago, whilst at Friends of the Earth I sat in on some of the early tortuous groups seeking to set up the criteria for the Ecolabel.

As a concept it has many strengths. It is a pan-European logo that is only awarded to products and services that can prove environmental credentials across their entire lifecycle - from cradle-to-grave. It has relatively robust criteria and is renewed annually.

For all those people who say that there are too many logos on products and they don't know which to trust, the Ecolabel should be the answer.

Unfortunately, its strengths are also its weaknesses. Undertaking credible lifecycle analysis is complicated and expensive. The democracy of the system in setting standards means that there are constant battles with entrenched corporate positions. The label has also suffered from its attachment to Central Governments who have lacked the resource and creativity needed to effectively market it.

Despite these weaknesses, I believe that the Ecolabel should be supported and pressure put on more companies to use it. The judging provided some areas of optimism. The label is gaining credibility in certain sectors such as the paper industry and cleaning products.

The largest growth area is in hotels and the schemes we saw were highly innovative. There were also a couple of examples where larger companies are using the logo as an integral part of their wider marketing initiatives. The more of these schemes that take place and the more they are celebrated, the greater the prominence of the logo will become.

Big shovel society

Since the election of the Coalition Government, I am learning a whole new language. New Labour badged charities as "The Third Sector". Now, under the new Government, we are known as "Civil Society". Many in this newly created society are currently scratching our heads and trying to work out our role in turning the concept of the Big Society into reality.

This week a Conservative Councillor tried to define the concept for me by explaining that when we had heavy snow this winter, residents in the UK tended to call their council to clear snow from around their homes whereas in the Netherlands residents get out their big shovels and cleared it themselves. She explained that it is the role of charities to help change values and behaviour to this different mindset.

There then followed a long debate about how best this could happen. Examples were used including Marks and Spencer and the National Trust where "tribes" are being created in which people are beginning to live life differently. In these tribes there are leaders in the organisations who are driving change but crucially their customers and members have given them their permission and support to act.