Benchmarking and additional environmental information in ... - ANEC

developing a simplified environmental declaration. Consumers are positive
about the idea of a simplified environmental declaration, as it would help them
base their choice on the environmental qualities they find most important, e.g.
chemical substances, energy consumption or reusability. Finally it is remarked
that the consumers interviewed in the study want the information in the
simplified environmental declaration to be verified.
A more recent review of Nordic studies on environmental product information
(Leire et al., 2004) concludes that both consumers and professional purchasers
confronted with EPD’s find them difficult to interpret and use. The EPD’s
sometimes raised more questions than they answered as respondents started
to ask follow-up questions on the meaning of information. Recurring calls for
simplifications and/or guidance such as benchmarks and reference values were
however reported in order to be able to use them properly. In addition, the selfdeclarations
appear to have a weak trustworthiness as the information is not
controlled or certified. A recurring conclusion from these studies is that the
users need to be educated in using them. Despite the difficulties in interpreting
declarations, an interesting finding was that some consumers expressed that
the extensive and quantified information gave a reliable impression even if they
could not evaluate it.
A potential use also among consumers was, however, also considered. In
contrast to grocery shopping, which can be seen as everyday actions often
guided by routines and already set purchasing criteria, capital goods
investments of durable products are larger and occur more seldom, and
therefore allows more careful decision-making processes. In these processes, it
may therefore be possible also for private consumers to include and evaluate
the complex and substantial environmental information declarations.
Although the reviewed studies are not conclusive it can with good sense be
deduced from them that private consumers in general prefer declarations which
are much more simple than those developed from the framework described in
ISO 14025 and implemented in national or international EPD-schemes.
Selecting environmental information and presenting it in a way which is
understandable for common consumers is therefore seen as a main challenge.
On the one hand, the information should be simple, e.g. as suggested in
Stranddorf et al, 2001, but on the other hand it should be sufficiently
comprehensive and precise for the consumer to make the “right” choice,
distinguishing between products with different environmental characteristics.
It should, however, also be recognized that “very green” consumers seem to be
willing to use detailed environmental information, e.g. as found in standardized
EPD’s. One important element in this is that the information should be 3 rd -party
certified, because self-declared information is not considered as trustworthy.
There may thus be a future demand for differentiated environmental
information, targeted at consumers with different needs and will to use the
information.
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