New Label driving supply and demand of energy efficient products

Project Information

LABEL 2020

Grant agreement ID: 847062

DOI

10.3030/847062

Project closed

EC signature date 13 May 2019

Start date 1 June 2019

End date 30 November 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 3 319 027,95

EU contribution

€ 3 319 027,50

Coordinated by

ÖSTERREICHISCHE ENERGIEAGENTUR - AUSTRIAN ENERGY AGENCY
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - LABEL 2020 (New Label driving supply and demand of energy efficient products)

Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2022-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The EU energy label for products has been a key driver supporting innovation and market development for energy efficient product technologies for more than 20 years. The label stimulated both innovation by manufacturers and demand for energy efficient products by consumers and professional buyers. However, the original label concept has become cumbersome and less transparent for stakeholders and thus has lost some of its original power. Therefore, the EU has decided to reinvent the original A-G- class concept, which for the future shall involve rescaling of label classes depending on technology and market development. The revised label scheme is based on new calculations and will include new information criteria and pictograms.
The transition process until the new label is fully established, requires effective guidance and support of stakeholders to ensure correct implementation by suppliers and retailers as well as full understanding, high acceptance and efficient use of the new label by consumers and professional buyers. The LABEL 2020 project is designed as a comprehensive action supporting the transition process from the old to the new label for all stakeholders in a most effective way.
The central strategic objectives among others are to empower and support
• consumers and professional buyers by means of effective information campaigns, services and tools.Services shall motivate and support the target groups in the consideration and use of the new labels for their purchasing decision. Overall, transparency of the energy label rescaling process shall be supported as effectively as possible.
• retailers in the correct, efficient and effective implementation of the new label at the point of sale and in online sales channels. Training for sales persons and supporting tools for the implementation and promotion of the new label will be provided for retailers.
• manufacturers in the provision of correct labelling and product information, to convince them to see the label as an important tool to promote efficient products and consequently to motivate them towards further innovation for energy efficient appliances.
• policy makers, multipliers and other stakeholders in the use and promotion of the new label within
• national programs, initiatives and schemes as e.g. green procurement, incentives etc.
• development and exchange of best practice for campaigns involving the effective services and tools.
• market surveillance by helping to reduce non-compliance of product labels
• labelling legislation development at EU-level by provision of experiences from the labelling implementation process.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The LABEL 2020 project developed comprehensive tools and services to support an effective and efficient implementation of the new EU energy labels for white goods, TV, lighting products and commerical refrigeration in the EU market. The focus of the project was on tools and services for retailers, for consumers and for professional buyers. Among others the following key tools and services were developed and disseminated in 16 EU countries represented in the project as well as in additional regions.

The key tools for retailers among others included :
- Comprehensive guidelines for the implementation and use of the labels in the retail sector. This included both labelling in shops and online as well as the use of product information sheets and the EPREL database.
- E-learning tools for retail staff to support accurate labelling both in shops and online. For that purpose a specific e-learning tool was developed that effectively supports training, based on an interactive concept. The e-learning was well accepted by the retail sector including large international retail chains. The concept among others involved multiple choice tests designed to support a check of the learning success. The tool also provides the option for printing a certificate when the training and the tests have been passed successfully.
- Information brochures and leaflets summarising the key information for the new labels.
- A web-based information service including also FAQs and guidance to the relevant EU legislation.

Key tools for consumers and professional buyers inlcuded among others:
- Information brochures and guidelines
- A web-based service section
- A web-application designed for smartphones that supports consumers and professional buyers in the choice of energy efficient products and also supports comparison of operating costs. This web application is based on the EU database EPREL and allows a comparison of the products registered on EPREL for which new labels with QR code are already available. For the promotion of the tool also new marketing approaches via retailer cooperations were designed and tested. For that purpose widgets were designed and implemented on websites of retailers to provide operating cost and total cost information.
- Comprehensive information via media campaigns also involving TV broadcasting in several countries.


The project involved a broad collaboration with the retail sector including also many large retail chains in the countries represented in the project. A collaboration with more than 200 retail chains respectively retailer groups could be arranged in total across countries. Overall about 15.000 retail persons were trained based on target group specific webinars and the e-learning. Overall, the feedback from the retail sector was very positive. The e-learning approach was very well accepted also due to the fact that during the two years Covid Crisis in 2020 and 2021 options for on-site trainings were quite limited. Thus, innovative e-learning provided an effective means to overcome unexpected barriers during the Covid pandemic.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

As indicated in the section above, comprehensive information campaigns were implemented in the different countries. Via different information channels including print media, social media, radio and TV, approximately 240 Mio people could be informed about the action. According to calculations based on a calculation concept specified for the project, approximately 24 mio buyers could be reached and motivated by the action to consider the labels. More than 1600 media contributions were counted in all the different kinds of media channels during the project period.

Based on the possible saving potentials for the specific product groups addressed, approximate electricity savings of 199 GWh/year were calculated as triggered by the project.
This corresponds with total primary energy savings of approximately 497 GWh/year.
For TV products the saving potential expected at the start of the project unfortunately could not be exploited, since the lable scale in the new label was not effectively aligned with the market situation. Products in the market were only labelled F to G class, which was not appealing respectively motivating for buyers.

Concerning the long-term exploitation of the project outcomes, among others a further use and extension of the web app tool will be arranged. The web app tool shall be extended with additional features and for additional product groups when new ecodesign legislation will go into force. Among others it is intended to extend the tool with price and product availability information to make the use of the tool still more attractive for private and professional buyers.

Label2020 Website