Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LABEL 2020 (New Label driving supply and demand of energy efficient products)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-08-01 al 2021-09-30
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.
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.
The first project project period from June 2019 to July 2020 was primarily dedicated to the initial assessment of the basic situation in the various countries (in order to assess the needs and specific requirements for tools and services supporting the market actors), the early stakeholder information and involvement and the start of the development of the various tools and services.
The initial stage included basic information and involvement of the stakeholders to be involved in the later campaigns. For this purpose extensive interviews were conducted with major stakeholders including among others retailers, suppliers, public administration, consumer organisations, policy makers and other supporters and multipliers. The stakeholders were invited for collaboration for the further information and service processes in the Label2020 project.
Furthermore the initial assessment included a broad analysis of existing experiences and tools from previous related initiatives which are to be considered for the developments in the project.
Subsequently the development of supporting tools and services was started.
As a first step the web-based information service for consumers, retailers and suppliers was implemented for all countries covered by the project. A main focus was also put on information for retailers as retailers were among the first target groups to be prepared for the label transition period. The web-based information service contains comprehensive information modules covering all new labels and detailed information concerning the requirements for the transition process. Comprehensive guidelines for retailers were developed which are available for download. Furthermore the development of education materials and e-learning was started which is to be finalised early in the second project period.
Furthermore the development of tools and services for consumers and essential multipliers including public administration, policy makers, media etc. was started. These tools will be finalised and implemented during the second project period.
The initial stage included basic information and involvement of the stakeholders to be involved in the later campaigns. For this purpose extensive interviews were conducted with major stakeholders including among others retailers, suppliers, public administration, consumer organisations, policy makers and other supporters and multipliers. The stakeholders were invited for collaboration for the further information and service processes in the Label2020 project.
Furthermore the initial assessment included a broad analysis of existing experiences and tools from previous related initiatives which are to be considered for the developments in the project.
Subsequently the development of supporting tools and services was started.
As a first step the web-based information service for consumers, retailers and suppliers was implemented for all countries covered by the project. A main focus was also put on information for retailers as retailers were among the first target groups to be prepared for the label transition period. The web-based information service contains comprehensive information modules covering all new labels and detailed information concerning the requirements for the transition process. Comprehensive guidelines for retailers were developed which are available for download. Furthermore the development of education materials and e-learning was started which is to be finalised early in the second project period.
Furthermore the development of tools and services for consumers and essential multipliers including public administration, policy makers, media etc. was started. These tools will be finalised and implemented during the second project period.
The subsequent project period will cover the finalisation of all remaining tools for stakeholders as well as the final preparation and implementation of the national campaigns. The core tools mainly address retailers, consumers but also multipliers and supporters from public administration and services.
The biggest and most prominent tools to mention are a comprehensive e-learning tool for retailers and an innovative web app tool for consumers which will be directly linked to the EPREL database. The e-learning is designed to support very effective training for sales people independent of training seminars. In particular in the situation of the Covid crisis e-learning has got a still more important role for education and the interest of retailers in e-learning is particularly high.The e-learning will contain many interactive elements and modules supporting knowledge check of participants and will be provided in two versions that can either be directly linked to existing e-learning platforms of retailers or used via the web.
The web-app tool designed for consumers will support the efficient comparison of products based on the information from the EU-EPREL database. EPREL will contain more information than is provided directly on the labels which can be accessed with the new web app either from a smartphone, a tablet or PC. The web app will support easy calculation of total operation costs of productsover lifetime. It will indicate the efficiency range currently available on the market (not all efficiency classes will be populated at the time of the introduction of the labels) and will provide information on particularly efficient products. The web app will allow easy product comparison by scanning the QR-Code of various products or by introduction of model identifiers.
The second project period furthermore covers finalisation of various other tools including information brochures, videos, guidelines for public procurement etc. as well as comprehensive communication work via key media in all countries involving print, web and TV media.
Concerning expected impact from the project the following impact indicators can be highlighted:
• More than 16 Mio consumers reached, motivated and supported by the tools and services developed by the project
• 2,4 Mio consumers using the project website
• >200 media contributions in TV, print and online media in total
• >15000 sales persons reached in total, appr. 40 retail chains involved, >1600 salespersons trained for the new labelling concept
The biggest and most prominent tools to mention are a comprehensive e-learning tool for retailers and an innovative web app tool for consumers which will be directly linked to the EPREL database. The e-learning is designed to support very effective training for sales people independent of training seminars. In particular in the situation of the Covid crisis e-learning has got a still more important role for education and the interest of retailers in e-learning is particularly high.The e-learning will contain many interactive elements and modules supporting knowledge check of participants and will be provided in two versions that can either be directly linked to existing e-learning platforms of retailers or used via the web.
The web-app tool designed for consumers will support the efficient comparison of products based on the information from the EU-EPREL database. EPREL will contain more information than is provided directly on the labels which can be accessed with the new web app either from a smartphone, a tablet or PC. The web app will support easy calculation of total operation costs of productsover lifetime. It will indicate the efficiency range currently available on the market (not all efficiency classes will be populated at the time of the introduction of the labels) and will provide information on particularly efficient products. The web app will allow easy product comparison by scanning the QR-Code of various products or by introduction of model identifiers.
The second project period furthermore covers finalisation of various other tools including information brochures, videos, guidelines for public procurement etc. as well as comprehensive communication work via key media in all countries involving print, web and TV media.
Concerning expected impact from the project the following impact indicators can be highlighted:
• More than 16 Mio consumers reached, motivated and supported by the tools and services developed by the project
• 2,4 Mio consumers using the project website
• >200 media contributions in TV, print and online media in total
• >15000 sales persons reached in total, appr. 40 retail chains involved, >1600 salespersons trained for the new labelling concept