An introduction to Life-Cycle Thinking and Management
8. Marketing and environmental communication
When an enterprise improves a product's environmental profile, the product is given an extra quality. This is often a "hidden quality" because it is not always obvious to consumers that a particular product has fewer environmental impacts than an apparently similar product.
The enterprise must therefore consider the following questions:
 | How can a cleaner product be marketed? |
| How can the product's environmental qualities be made known? |
Marketing cleaner products
Increasingly, the environment is a parameter which enterprises use in the competition together with price, functionality, design, quality, etc. Enterprises may use a product's environmental characteristics to market the product in three different ways:
1. Ecolabelling
In Denmark there are two officially approved eco-labels, the Scandinavian Swan label and the EU Flower label. Eco-labels are aimed primarily at consumers and cover a wide range of common and consumer goods (but not food products). An enterprise must document that a product meets a list of previously determined criteria in order to obtain an eco-label. It is not necessary, however, to conduct a detailed life-cycle assessment.
2. Environmental characteristics
In this case, marketing is based on one particular aspect of the product's environmental profile, for example, that the petrol is lead-free, or that a laundry detergent is easily degradable.The enterprise must be able to document its claim(s).
3. Environmental products declaration
An environmental declaration is aimed primarily at professional buyers and makes it possible to compare the characteristics of several similar products. There are no official guidelines for environmental declarations in Denmark, although there are in Sweden.
An environmental declaration must be based on a life-cycle assessment and have common or uniform content and formulation.The degree of detail required in the life-cycle assessment has not yet been determined.
There are ISO standards for all three types (type I, II and III). Furthermore, it is necessary to know the marketing laws and the consumer ombudsman's guidelines for environmental marketing.The guidelines stress that marketing claims regarding the environmental characteristics of a product must be possible to document, must be significant and relevant, and must not be misleading.
Remember that knowledge about the market is just as important as knowledge about a product's environmental impacts. The following questions are relevant for an enterprise to consider in conjunction with marketing of a cleaner product:
| What do my customers demand, and how do they weigh various considerations? |
| What do my customers consider to be the most important environmental problems which ought to and can be addressed? |
| What do collaboration partners, for example, neighbours, financial institutions, etc. consider to be important areas for environmental improvements of the product? |
Enviromental information and communication
There are other, more informal ways to make a product's environmental characteristics or an enterprise's environmental initiatives more visible. Some examples are listed below:
| Figures for environmental impacts during production of a particular product |
| Conversations with customers |
| Electronic news letters about environmental initiatives |
| Fact sheets about the environmental impacts of a product |
| Manuals for environmentally friendly use and disposal of the product |
| Lectures, and presentations at conferences |
| Contact with the media and articles in trade journals |
| Publication of the enterprise's environmental policy, goals and action plans, as well as the green accounts |
| Open house event |
"Little Enterprise Ltd." has calculated figures for the energy consumption required to produce one thermos, so this information is available if and when a customer makes enquiries. In addition, the enterprise's new product-use directions give instructions regarding environmentally friendly cleaning and disposal of the thermos. |
It is important to make a clear distinction between information and communication.
Information is uni-directional, such as a newsletter, directions for use, or green accounts. In contrast, communication is multi-directional and functions as a dialogue between two or more partners, for example, a customer visit, an employee meeting, etc.Therefore, the following must be considered:
| Who is the target group for the environmental initiative(s), and how is this group best reached with our message? |
| Who are our environmental communication partners and in what areas is there collaboration? |
Selection of a method to make a product's environmental profile and an enterprise's environmental initiatives visible will depend upon the responses to these questions.
A number of enterprises were disappointed that there was not greater public interest in green accounts. Green accounts are an example of environmental information, but there is also a need for environmental communication if an enterprise wants an active dialogue with customers and partners.
When an enterprise is putting together environmental communication it must consider which messages and which methods are best suited to which audiences. For one customer group, problems associated with waste may be important. Another customer group may emphasise obtaining comprehensive information concerning environmental impacts throughout a product's life cycle.
The better an enterprise knows the various consumer groups and collaboration partners, the bigger the effect of goaloriented environmental communication. This knowledge is obtained from dialogue and cooperation. It is also necessary to evaluate the effect of an enterprise's environmental information and communication so that experience can be put to use in future initiatives.
When an enterprise has taken the step from information to active environmental communication, then the next step is cooperation with the enterprise's partners.