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Research - 08.07.2010 - 00:00 

New energy labelling confusing

Research findings from the University of St. Gallen reveal that an EU political compromise around the energy labelling scheme for appliances fails to provide effective guidance for consumer decision-making.

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18 February 2010. New research findings from the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland reveal that an EU political compromise around the energy labelling scheme for appliances fails to provide effective guidance for consumer decision-making, resulting in the undesired effect of less rather than more attention to energy efficiency.

Study by Stefanie Heinzle and Rolf Wüstenhagen
The independent research study, "Disimproving the European Energy Label's value for consumers? Results of a consumer survey" by Stefanie Heinzle and Rolf Wüstenhagen from the Institute for Economy and the Environment, University of St.Gallen, is an extension of a similar study the researchers conducted in Summer 2009 with funding from the German Ministry for Education and Research.

Ongoing debate
The research feeds into an ongoing debate in Brussels around the future of energy efficiency labelling for appliances (see background below), to move away from the clear, successful A to G rating to another proposal. The energy label is one of the instruments that the European Commission is using to achieve energy efficiency and carbon emissions targets in the absence of a successful Copenhagen agreement on climate change mitigation.

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