XI Rapporto sulla qualità ambiente urbano

Cesarei et al. / Qualità dell’ambiente urbano – XI Rapporto (2015)

ISPRA Stato dell’Ambiente 63/15 pagg. 856 - 865

Abstract

Born in 1992, revised for the first time in 2000 and again in 2010, the EU Ecolabel

Regulation (66/2010) awards products and services with a reduced environmental

impact during their entire life cycle.

It is a voluntary environmental certification, Type I (ISO 14024), endorsed by an

independent third party, which guarantees credibility to the Logo; for Italy this

Competent Body is the Ecolabel - Ecoaudit Committee, whose technical support is

represented by the Ecolabel Sector of Ispra. Only the best 10-20% (from an

environmental point of view) products/services on the European market can aim at

the Logo, as long as they show that also their performances are comparable or

better than those of the market-leading products. In order to be awarded with the EU

Ecolabel it is however necessary that Ecological Criteria for the product group of

interest have been established and published through a formal Decision of the

European Commission. Currently there are 35 EU Ecolabel criteria available for

different product groups and services. For a full list of these please check Ispra web

site at the following link:

The EU Ecolabel is important both for the applicant companies, as it helps them to be

acknowledged in Europe and abroad for their commitment to environmental issues,

allowing them to be more competitive on the market and guaranteeing them an easier

access to sustainable consumption policies instruments such as GPP (Green Public

Procurement) and for the consumer, as he can, through his choices, direct the

market towards more eco-friendly and safer products and services. Below we will

analyze how the EU Ecolabel licences currently in force in Italy are distributed in the

selected urban areas. It is important to underline that one or more EU Ecolabelled

products/services might be associated to one licence number.

Keywords

Environmental certification, ISO 14024, GPP, Product/service group, EU Ecolabel

licence

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