Eco-labeled products: trend or tools for sustainability strategies?

The paper offers a point of view on credibility
of eco-labeled products, analyzing the relationships among
company’s sustainable strategy, eco-label and no-financial
reports. Based on a cross-sector study of 109 companies
with the EU-Eco-label licenses in Italy, the paper points
out different behaviors among the companies investigated
and explains the leadership of Italy in the number of these
licenses. However, the paper underlines that the use of
sustainability tools is not always matched to the explanation
of companies’ sustainable strategies. The study identifies
the significant drivers for the management of ecolabel
within a sustainability strategy, drawing attention to
the weight, and the hierarchical level of different decisions
about sustainability. This study contributes to strengthening
the understanding, promoting a discussion on the use of
eco-label and on its value, and describing a desirable
behavior that any company should tend in order to nourish
the credibility that is an essential aspect for building strong
associations with the brand.