Companies strengthen Blue Angel as international eco-label
In spring this year, Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN) will start using the eco-label Blue Angel in advertising its energy-efficient Voice-over-IP telephone systems in Turkey, India and CeBIT’s partner country Poland. At the same time Kyocera in the United Kingdom is using the world’s first eco-label to advertise the climate and environmental benefits of its office equipment.
The internationally renowned Oeko-Institut is providing its scientific expertise to the project. Together with the communication agency .lichtl Ethics & Brands, researchers of the Oeko-Institut investigate the potential of the eco-label as an instrument for fostering sustainable consumption at an international level. “Together with local partners in Turkey, India, Poland and Great Britain, we are developing strategies on how companies can make use of the Blue Angel in new markets in order to increase the market share of their climate and environmental friendly products”, explains Siddharth Prakash, project manager and expert for sustainable consumption at the Oeko-Institut. The internationalisation of the Blue Angel is part of a research project supported by the German Federal Environment Ministry under the Climate Initiative.
Blue Angel represents quality worldwide
“The Blue Angel has always played an important role in the development of environmental standards at an international level,” said Edda Müller, Vice-Chairwoman of the Environmental Label Jury, speaking yesterday at the CeBIT fair in Hanover. “So it is only logical that companies are also making increasing use of the eco-label as a marketing instrument in various countries.”
Vera Meyer, general manager of Siemens Enterprise, stressed: “The Blue Angel is a multidimensional label. It demands strict requirements from our products: not only minimal energy consumption, but also materials free from harmful substances, recycling-friendly design in the interests of resource conservation, and other relevant environmental and health-related criteria – that’s why we hold it in high regard.”
And Oliver Kreth, head of European Marketing at Kyocera Document Solutions, draws attention to the highly independent status of the eco-label: “The Blue Angel is a state institution backed by leading German environmental bodies from all sections of society. That’s why we have absolute confidence in this eco-label.”
Companies can use the Blue Angel for advertising in any country, on the basis of a Contract on the Use of the Environmental Label with RAL gGmbH in Germany. This applies to manufacturers and service providers based abroad, and also to German companies. The Blue Angel logo can be used in German and English.
There are currently 11,700 Blue Angel products from some 1,380 companies in 125 different product groups. Only those goods and services in a product group which are best from an environmental point of view are awarded the Blue Angel. Independence is guaranteed by the German Environment Ministry, the Federal Environment Agency, RAL gGmbH and the Environmental Label Jury with its members: the environmental associations BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany) and NABU, the consumer organisations vzbv (Federation of German Consumer Organisations) and Stiftung Warentest and associations such as BDI, DGB, HDE, ZDH, Deutscher Städtetag (German Association of Cities) and representatives of the media, churches, academia and the federal states.
Contact
Oeko-Institut e.V.
Siddharth Prakash
Senior Researcher in the division Sustainable Products & Material Flows
Oeko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology), Freiburg office
Phone: ++49 761 45295-244
Email: s.prakash@oeko.de
.lichtl Ethics & Brands GmbH
Sven Reichmann
Phone: ++49 6192 975 92 88
Fax: ++49 6192 975 92 99
Email: sven.reichmann@lichtl.com
Oeko-Institut is a leading independent European research and consultancy institute working for a sustainable future. Founded in 1977, the institute develops principles and strategies for ways in which the vision of sustainable development can be realised globally, nationally and locally. It has offices in three cities in Germany: Freiburg, Darmstadt and Berlin.
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Further information
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit, BMU)
The Climate Initiative of BMU (BMU Klimaschutzinitiative)
www.bmu-klimaschutzinitiative.de www.ptj.de/klimaschutzinitiative/wirtschaft-verbraucher-bildung [in German]www.blue-angel-international.com www.facebook.com/blauerengel [in German]www.blauer-engel.de [in German]www.blauer-engel-produktwelt.de [in German]