What is an environmental label and how do I spot a credible one?

An environmental label is a mark on a product, a package or in advertising that confirms a particular environmental property. The term itself is not protected. Anyone may design a mark and call it an environmental label, so the mark alone says nothing about the testing behind it.

Three kinds of mark sit side by side

Verified third-party labels. An independent body assesses against a published programme, issues a licence number and re-checks. The Blue Angel, the EU Ecolabel and the flustix trustmarks belong here.

Marks run by industries, associations or retailers. Criteria and award sit with a group that is itself active in the market. The requirements can be demanding, but the independence is of a different kind.

Self-awarded company marks. A logo a company designs and grants itself. From 27 September 2026 the EmpCo Directive forbids exactly this: sustainability marks without a certification scheme or a public authority behind them may no longer be used.

Four questions an environmental label has to answer

1. Who assesses? The label owner itself, or an accredited independent body?

2. What exactly was assessed? The whole product, the packaging only, a single raw material?

3. Can it be looked up? A sound label carries a number and a public database.

4. How long is it valid? Without an expiry date and re-checks, a statement from years ago simply stays on the pack.

The flustix trustmarks name in the mark itself what they refer to, carry a licence number and can be verified in the public certificate database. How an assessment works, who is involved and how long a certificate stays valid is set out in the certification process.