Indicator 12.1.a Market share of products certified by publicly managed eco-labelling schemes

Text from the Indicator Report 2022 

Between 2012 and 2019, the market share of products certified by publicly managed ecolabelling schemes increased from 3.6 % to 7.9 %. This is equivalent to a turnover of 26.5 billion euros in 2019. The highest value was measured in 2016 at 8.6 %. The indicator value sank in 2017 and 2018 relative to the previous year, whereby the share slightly increased in 2019. Basically, the indicator follows the trend of the car market. The market share of A + cars decreased from 14 % (2016) to 9.6 % (2018) and increased again in 2019 (10.0 %). The trend of the indicator developed in the right direction but unless the trend is reversed and the market share is considerably increased, Germany will fall short of the 2030 target.

The data used for this indicator comes from the German Environment Agency (UBA). The UBA utilizes information from various sources for the calculation of the indicator, for example from the consumer research institute. The indicator is made up of the market share of products which either bear the highest category of EU energy label within their class or are certified by the EU Ecolabel, the Euro-leaf organic logo or the German Blue Angel. The EU energy label primarily addresses energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, while the other three ecolabels also take into account other threats to the environment such as pesticide use and harmful wastewater. The indicator is intended to show whether environmentally friendly product variants are replacing conventional ones in the market. Only a selection of product groups is examined, in part because limited data are available on turnover for products bearing sustainability labels. This also makes it possible to avoid certain products being counted more than once.

The indicator encompasses consumption in the fields of home life, mobility and nutrition. Household appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, televisions and vacuum cleaners are assessed, as are light bulbs, foodstuffs, sanitary paper, detergents and cars. Since the markets for the individual product groups are of different sizes, the market shares are weighted according to the total turnover of the market in question. This is intended to prevent the indicator being distorted by products which have high shares of small niche markets. Furthermore, this means expenditure on environmentally friendly products can be considered in relation to the total expenditure of private households.

It is not possible to weight the market shares according to the market relevance of the respective product groups because the environmental labels address different categories (energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, material demand) that cannot be balanced against one another. This also makes it impossible to set out the environmental footprint, or comprehensive evaluation taking in several environmental categories, of each product group. Moreover, the indicator only covers goods newly brought into circulation in relation to the market as a whole. It thereby gives no indication as to whether the enhanced efficiency of an appliance results in a change in consumer behaviour and perhaps to an increase in consumption – the rebound effect. It also describes the market share on the basis of turnover. Given the price differences between products with and without the relevant ecolabels, this means no conclusions can be drawn about their numbers. It follows that a change in the indicator value might have been caused by price alterations within a product group.

The synoptic table provides information about the evaluation of the indicator in previous years. It shows if the weather symbol assigned to an indicator was rather stable or volatile in the past years. (Evaluation of the Indicator Report 2022 )

Indicator	12.1.a Market share of products certified by publicly managed eco-labelling schemes
Target	Increase the market share to 34 % by 2030
Year	2016	2017	2018	2019
Evaluation	No assess­ment possible