Environmental Information in Instructions for Use of Consumer Products
Environmental Information in Instructions for Use of Consumer Products

Author: Ari Nissinen

Publisher: Nordic Council of Ministers

Published: 2005-03-11

Total Pages: 147

ISBN-13: 9289311266

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The European Union has highlighted the issue of environmentally sound use of products in the context of Integrated Product Policy, IPP. Accordingly, consumers should have easy access to understandable, relevant and credible environmental information. Information about product characteristics is available in different forms and sources, but in many cases, relevant environmental information is not available on the product itself. The study described in this report was initiated in order to produce information on the state of user instructions regarding environmental information. User manuals of passenger cars and refrigerators were focused on, examining the advice which could diminish the harmful environmental effects of the use of these products. Other studied products included such durable products as textiles and furniture as well as such consumables as cleaning chemicals and recyclable paper products. The study raised many ideas about actions that could promote the status and 'eco-development' of instructions for use.

Consumer Perceptions, Understanding and Use of Product Related Environmental Information
Consumer Perceptions, Understanding and Use of Product Related Environmental Information

Author: Nordisk Ministerråd

Publisher: Nordic Council of Ministers

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 9289310502

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Product-related environmental information is an important policy instrument for a shift towards more sustainable consumption patterns, and such information helps consumers choose environmentally improved products. While ecolabeling has had a particularly strong breakthrough in Nordic markets, a number of other communication modes, such as environmental product declarations and producers' self-declared claims have been applied in both the consumer and business-to-business markets. This report comprises a summary of recent research on how Nordic consumers perceive, understand, and use product-related environmental information. A comprehensive literature review supplemented with expert interviews forms the foundation for this work. The report highlights well-researched areas and proposes areas where deeper knowledge and understanding is required. The research was conducted cooperatively between the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University in Sweden; the National Consumer Research Centre in Finland; and Environice in Iceland with the purpose to obtain and present a comprehensive picture of the situation in the Nordic countries.

Greening the Economy
Greening the Economy

Author: John Magne Skjelvik

Publisher: Nordic Council of Ministers

Published: 2011-06

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 9289322292

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After the recent financial and economic crisis, greening the economy has become a major focus for international and national discussions: How to combine forceful and effective action to meet climate change and other environmental challenges with stronger and more sustainable economic development, in both developed and developing countries. This synthesis report on the Nordic countries' environmental policy experiences, focuses on the use of economic instruments and how this policy has contributed to the integration of environmental concerns into economic growth and development policies. The report demonstrates that the Nordic countries have been successful in achieving substantial reductions in several major pollutants and clear improvements in local and regional environmental quality, while maintaining an internationally respectable rate of economic growth. This decoupling of economic development from growth in emissions has been achieved through a range of policy instruments, with a strong and increasing element of economic, market-based instruments. The challenge, and the opportunity, for the Nordic countries is to strengthen and deepen such policies, with even more effective design of and combination of policy instruments, to deal with new and remaining threats to the local, national and international environment.

Handbook of Environmental Risk Assessment and Management
Handbook of Environmental Risk Assessment and Management

Author: Peter P. Calow

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2009-07-08

Total Pages: 600

ISBN-13: 1444313193

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At the heart of environmental protection is risk assessment: thelikelihood of pollution from accidents; the likelihood of problemsfrom normal and abnormal operation of industrial processes; thelikely impacts associated with new synthetic chemicals; and so on.Currently, risk assessment has been very much in the news--therisks from BSE and E. coli, and the public perception of risks fromnuclear waste, etc. This new publication explains how scientificmethodologies are used to assess risk from human activities and theresultant objects and wastes, on people and the environment.Understanding such risks supplies crucial information--to framelegislation, manage major habitats, businesses and industries, andcreate development programmes. Unique in combining the science of risk assessment with thedevelopment of management strategies. Covers science and social science (politics, economics,psychology) aspects. Very timely - risk assessment lies at the heart of decisionmaking in various topical environmental questions (BSE, Brent Spar,nuclear waste).

Environment, Information and Consumer Behaviour
Environment, Information and Consumer Behaviour

Author: Signe Krarup

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9781781958209

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Over the past decade there has been growing interest in the role of information in the promotion of environmentally friendly behaviour. This book examines how and why the provision of such information can affect individual decisions concerning buying or consuming a product or valuing a policy. The information can take the form of a product label or a statement in a survey questionnaire, and the decision can be what product to buy, what food to eat or how to answer a contingent valuation question. The chapters in this volume carefully explore the explanations for consumer behaviour in different scenarios where information is provided about the 'public' implications of individual decisions. The first set of chapters examines the prospects for eco-labelling as a tool of environmental policy from a variety of different perspectives. They also look at how this form of information provision compares with more familiar policy instruments in achieving efficiency goals. In the second and third sections the focus is on environmental and food labelling, in which a combination of private and public motives for purchase decisions is found. Finally, the role of information in contingent valuation surveys is considered, in particular the impact of information and time in altering stated value responses.