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Mehmet Emin Birpınar, Ülkü Yetişet, et al.,

introduced to the market in 1978 with the “Blue Angel” logo on them (Aydin,
2019). Considering the global importance of products and policies that pay
more attention to the environment, Germany’s eco-labeling practice was
followed by other countries such as the United States, Japan, and France.
Another turning point in the history of eco-label programs was the launch
of the Northern Nordic Eco-label Program, called Nordic Swan, in 1989. In
this program, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland created the
Nordic Swan environmental label program using the “Blue Angel” model as
an example and made it operational. Due to the fact that this initiative was
the first one carried out by more than one country, it is considered to be an
important milestone in the history of eco-labels (Prieto-Sandoval et al., 2020).
Following the Nordic Swan countries, European Commission brought the
eco-label concept up for discussion in the European Union (EU) member states
and in the European Parliament, and after a three-years period, “Ecolabel”
gained legal status and entered into force with the Regulation No. 880 of 23
March 1992 of the EU Council of Ministers (Ecolabel, 1992).
The importance of environmental labeling and the aim of its dissemination
globally were discussed and accepted at the UN Conference on Environment
and Development held in Rio by the United Nations (UN) in 1992 defined
as “Encouraging the dissemination of environmental labeling and other
environment-related product information programs designed to help
consumers make conscious choices”. Another important step in the further
dissemination of environmental-label or eco-label programs worldwide
was taken by emphasizing the importance of eco-label applications in EU
activities. The Integrated Product Policy (EU, 2003) published by the European
Commission (EC) in 2003 and the EU Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption
and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policies adopted in July 2008 (EU,
2008) further reinforced this strategy. Moreover, it aimed to contribute to
the EU’s goal of becoming a climate-neutral continent by 2050 and to the
circular economy by encouraging manufacturers to generate less waste and
CO in the manufacturing process. The essential milestones in the historical
2
development of eco-labels are summarized in Table 1.

68 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate