Abstract
A wide range of information, including energy labels, eco-labels, and procurement guidance, are provided to encourage individuals and organisations to buy more sustainable goods. An understanding of the most successful approaches can enable more effective labelling approaches to support greater energy efficiency and the circular economy. This paper presents some results from research for Defra (the UK Government's Environment department) and WRAP1 investigating how the provision of factual information about the environmental impact of a product influences more sustainable purchasing. The core of the research was a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA), developing and applying a formal research protocol in order to make the process as objective, robust and transparent as possible. The full REA covers a wide range of environmental aspects (energy use; carbon footprint; sustainability; lifecycle impact; water use; reparability and durability) and products (electrical appliances; vehicles; buildings; textiles and clothing, paper and wood products, cleaning/home chemical and cosmetic products). This paper presents an overview of the REA methodology and an outline of some of the results and conclusions. It then focuses on the findings of four studies on the effect of provision of information on different non-energy sustainability aspects for energy using products. Information on a range of sustainability impacts were found to be effective, for audiences in Europe and Asia, across an assortment of products, for most products. Further, this focused investigation supports some of the specific conclusions of the broader REA - namely that: • not all sustainability impacts are equal in the minds of consumers; so a positive response to information on one impact may not guarantee a similar response to information on another. • information on the same sustainability impact may be perceived differently depending on the product. The recommendation is that further research will be needed to systematically test information across a range of products and consumer groups to determine which aspect of environmental sustainability will be most effective for which product and for which consumer group. Also testing aspects of environmental sustainability that are clear in their focus will help with comparability of effects between different studies and give an improved understanding of what sustainability aspect participants are responding to.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | ECEEE 2019 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency |
Subtitle of host publication | Is Efficient Sufficient? |
Publisher | European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy |
Pages | 1621-1630 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9789198387841 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2019 |
Event | 2019 ECEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency: Is Efficient Sufficient? - Presqu'ile de Giens, France Duration: 3 Jun 2019 → 8 Jun 2019 |
Publication series
Name | Eceee Summer Study Proceedings |
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Volume | 2019-June |
ISSN (Print) | 1653-7025 |
ISSN (Electronic) | 2001-7960 |
Conference
Conference | 2019 ECEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency: Is Efficient Sufficient? |
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Country/Territory | France |
City | Presqu'ile de Giens |
Period | 3/06/19 → 8/06/19 |
Funding
We would like to thank Defra for funding the work, the members of steering group at Defra and WRAP for their support and guidance; and the stakeholders who gave their time and expertise to the evidence review. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the eceee panel leaders for their feedback on this paper.
Keywords
- Rapid evidence assessment
- Resource efficiency
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Energy Engineering and Power Technology
- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering