Consumers, businesses and public authorities are surrounded by environmental claims. Products are described as greener, more sustainable, climate-friendly, circular or environmentally preferable — but the growing number of claims also makes a simple question increasingly important: which claims can actually be trusted?
The newly published ISO 14024:2026 – Environmental statements and programmes for products — Ecolabels addresses an important part of that challenge. Published in May 2026, the third edition replaces ISO 14024:2018 and provides principles, requirements and guidance for ecolabelling programmes and the ecolabels they award.
ISO 14024 has long provided the international foundation for what have traditionally been known as Type I environmental labelling programmes. These programmes establish environmental criteria for product categories, assess products against those criteria and certify products that qualify to use an ecolabel. The 2026 edition retains this fundamental role while presenting it within the broader landscape of environmental statements and programmes for products.
The revision comes at an important time. Environmental information is becoming more influential in purchasing, procurement, product development and sustainability strategies. At the same time, organizations need clearer ways to distinguish credible, independently assessed ecolabels from the many other environmental statements appearing in the market.
Why ecolabels matter more than ever
For senior management, ecolabelling can easily appear to be primarily a marketing or product-compliance issue. In reality, credible ecolabels sit at the intersection of product strategy, environmental performance, procurement, market access and customer trust.
ISO 14024:2026 applies to the development of ecolabelling programmes, the selection of product categories, environmental and product-function criteria, and the assessment and certification of products licensed to use an ecolabel. Importantly, it also provides guidance on how ecolabels conforming to the standard can be differentiated from other environmental statements and ecolabels in the market.
For leaders, this makes ecolabelling relevant to several strategic questions:
- Can environmental claims be substantiated? An ecolabel needs to be supported by defined criteria and an assessment process rather than simply by marketing language.
- Are products evaluated consistently? Common principles and criteria help ensure that environmental performance is assessed in a structured way.
- Can customers understand the signal? A trusted label can simplify complex environmental information into something that buyers can recognize and use.
- Can procurement decisions rely on it? Credible ecolabelling can provide a structured basis for environmental requirements in purchasing and supplier selection.
- Does the claim reflect meaningful environmental performance? The credibility of the label ultimately depends on the quality of the programme, its criteria and its assessment process.
The management question is therefore not simply “Can we put an environmental label on the product?” It is increasingly “What evidence and governance stand behind that label?”ent system actually improving environmental and business performance?”
A broader framework for credible ecolabelling
The change in title itself is noteworthy. The previous edition was called ISO 14024:2018 – Environmental labels and declarations — Type I environmental labelling — Principles and procedures. The 2026 edition is titled Environmental statements and programmes for products — Ecolabels, aligning it more clearly with the wider ISO framework for environmental product information.
The basic model remains familiar. ISO 14024:2026 covers the development of ecolabelling programmes, selection of product categories, establishment of product environmental criteria and product-function criteria, and processes for assessing and certifying products permitted to carry an ecolabel.
But the public description of the new edition also highlights an increasingly important issue: differentiation. ISO 14024:2026 explicitly provides guidance for distinguishing ecolabels conforming to the standard from other environmental statements and ecolabels in the market.
That distinction matters because environmental product communication now takes many forms. Within the ISO 14000 family alone, ISO 14021 addresses self-declared environmental claims, ISO 14024 addresses ecolabels, and ISO 14025 addresses Environmental Product Declarations. These mechanisms serve different purposes and provide different forms of information and assurance.
The 2026 edition also notes that while ecolabels and ecolabelling programmes address environmental aspects of products, programmes can additionally consider social and economic aspects in support of sustainable development.
This reflects a broader evolution in product sustainability: organizations increasingly need to understand environmental performance as part of a wider system of product information, lifecycle impacts and sustainable development.
From green claims to trusted signals
The real leadership opportunity is to treat environmental product information as part of the organization’s trust infrastructure.
An environmental claim is valuable only if the market believes it. As the volume of sustainability information grows, simply making more claims does not necessarily create greater confidence. What matters is whether those claims are supported by transparent criteria, credible processes and evidence.
ISO 14024 provides an architecture for that trust.
The ecolabelling programme defines which product categories are covered. Environmental criteria establish what products need to demonstrate. Product-function criteria help ensure environmental performance is not considered independently of the product’s intended function. Assessment and certification then provide the process through which products become eligible to use the ecolabel.
For organizations, this can support several strategic objectives:
- creating more credible environmental product communication,
- establishing clearer environmental requirements for product portfolios,
- supporting sustainable procurement and supplier dialogue,
- helping customers differentiate between products,
- strengthening the evidence behind environmental positioning,
- and connecting product-level environmental performance with broader sustainability strategies.
This is particularly relevant as product information becomes increasingly digital. Ecolabels, Environmental Product Declarations, lifecycle information, environmental claims and other sustainability information will increasingly need to coexist around the same product. The challenge for organizations will not only be to provide more information, but to make clear what each piece of information means, where it comes from and what level of assurance stands behind it.progress.
How organizations should respond
OFor organizations operating ecolabelling programmes, using ecolabels in product strategies or relying on them in procurement, ISO 14024:2026 provides a useful reason to reassess current practices.
- Review the new edition and understand how your existing ecolabelling programme or use of ecolabels relates to the revised framework.
- Map your environmental product claims and distinguish between independently assessed ecolabels, self-declared claims, Environmental Product Declarations and other environmental information.
- Examine the evidence behind claims and ensure that environmental communication can be connected to clear criteria, data and assessment processes.
- Review product-category and environmental criteria to ensure they remain relevant to the environmental impacts that matter for the products concerned.
- Connect ecolabelling with procurement so that buyers understand what an ecolabel demonstrates and how it should be used when setting environmental requirements.
- Clarify communication to customers so that labels are not presented in ways that could blur the distinction between different types of environmental statements.
- Consider the wider product-information architecture and how ecolabels interact with lifecycle information, sustainability data and other environmental declarations.
Organizations should also look at ISO 14024 together with the wider ISO environmental product-information framework. ISO 14020 establishes general principles and requirements, ISO 14021:2026 addresses self-declared environmental claims, ISO 14024:2026 covers ecolabels, and ISO 14025:2026 addresses Environmental Product Declarations.
Understanding the differences between these approaches is becoming increasingly important for both those making environmental claims and those relying on them.ronmental management is addressing the environmental challenges that genuinely matter to the organization.
Final thought
Environmental communication is moving from a world where having a green label was itself a differentiator toward one where organizations increasingly need to explain why that label deserves trust.
ISO 14024:2026 reinforces the infrastructure behind credible ecolabelling: defined programmes, relevant product categories, environmental and functional criteria, assessment and certification, and clearer differentiation from other forms of environmental communication.
For senior management, this makes ecolabelling much more than a symbol printed on packaging. It can become a mechanism for connecting environmental strategy with product requirements, supplier expectations, procurement decisions and credible communication to the market.
As environmental information becomes richer and more complex, organizations will need to distinguish between claims, labels, declarations and underlying data — and ensure that each is supported by an appropriate level of evidence and assurance.
ISO 14024:2026 provides an important part of that trust architecture, helping transform an ecolabel from a sustainability message into a credible signal of environmental performance.