Next time you go shopping in Gujarat, look for the 'eco-label'

The next time you want to buy an environment-friendly product, look for the ‘eco-label’ on which the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) has been working for some time.

The ‘eco-label’ that would be issued by a CIIE panel to certify that a particular product was environment friendly, is the first effort in India to test products and services for their ‘eco-friendliness’, beyond the routine audits for energy efficiency.

The assessment of product for its eco-friendliness will be done only when sought by its manufacturer. The label would be given only after extensive tests by the steering committee constituted by the CIIE with experts drawn from different fields across the country.

The CIIE, established at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIMA), aims to incubate technology-based innovations and help commercialise them.

The eco-label, the CIIE believes, will highlight ‘green’ and ecologically clean products and services to give them a momentum in the market and make them popular among consumers.

The experts panel set up for the purpose by the CIIE will issue bar ratings certifying the eco-friendliness of the products and services it tests.

Currently, there is the Union energy ministry’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) which is the only body that rates products, but it restricts its ratings to the products’ energy efficiency.

The CIIE’s expert panel will not restrict its eco-label ratings to products but also extend them to services and events. In its ratings, it will go beyond energy consumption and assess carbon emission, waste generation and water usage among other things.

The steering committee will comprise experts from IIT-Delhi, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, National Physical Laboratory, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the IIMA among others.

Tinus Pulles, an expert on greenhouse gases and the lead author of 'Energy Volume-2006 IPCC Guidelines' for the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, is also a member of the steering committee.

Prof Amit Garg of IIMA, who is also a member of the steering committee, said that despite efforts to combat climate change, there was currently no mechanism to assess how climate friendly a product was.

"The steering committee will examine a product (only when its manufacturer seeks an assessment) for eco-friendly measures with the help of thorough laboratory tests and user-friendly tests before giving a final report," Garg said. 

He said products and services assessed for an ec0-label could include hotels, events, food and beverages and even 'green' products. 

CIIE CEO Kunal Upadhyay told DNA that the eco-label will be helpful not only in monitoring for energy consumption but also for aspects beyond energy efficiency.

"CIIE has been doing its bit for green and clean technology. The eco-label is an initiative that takes this efforts one step forward," he said.