Hållbarhet är en stark faktor som påverkar både konsumenter och företag i växande utsträckning. Att medvetet konsumera i enlighet med hållbara riktlinjer ligger i många konsumenters intresse, och företag utvecklar kontinuerligt strategier för att bemöta konsumentbehov och höja sin försäljning. I takt med detta ökar utbudet av hållbart märkta produkter och hållbarhetsmärkningar. För konsumenter innebär detta större valmöjligheter men också eventuella svårigheter då hållbarhetsmärkningar ofta upplevs snarlika och svåra att förstå betydelsen bakom, vilket i sin tur kan ha en motverkande effekt på konsumenters köpbeslut. Syftet med denna studie var därför att undersöka hur konsumenter i dagligvaruhandeln ställer sig till svenskt etablerade hållbarhetsmärkningar på likvärdiga produkter, för att utforska hur hållbarhetsmärkningar påverkar konsumenters köpbeslut vid köptillfället. Studien eftersträvade att identifiera de starkaste faktorerna som ligger bakom konsumenters beslut att köpa eller inte köpa hållbart märkta produkter. Avsikten var att ge företag/varumärken en bild av vad konsumenterna behöver för att effektivt vägledas i sitt köpbeslut. Insamling av data genomfördes genom enkäter med kvalitativ karaktär då studien avsåg att belysa konsumentåsikter kopplade till konsumentbeteende. Urvalet som inkluderades i studien utgjordes av individer som köper produkter i dagligvaruhandeln. Analys av data skedde med utgångspunkt i grundad teori där nyckelord och mönster mellan respondenter och svar identifierades och tolkades. Resultatet av studien visade att konsumenter främst påverkas i köpriktning vid köp av hållbart märkta produkter till följd av miljömässiga omvärldseffekter och personliga effekter på den egna hälsan, men även till viss del till följd av omvärldseffekter kopplade till socialt ansvarstagande samt tillgänglighet av information. Bristande tilltro som skapar associationer till opålitlighet samt bristande förståelse till följd av dålig kunskap är de enda faktorerna som har påverkan på köpbeslut i icke-köpriktningen enligt resultatet av studien. Genom att belysa de faktorer som påverkar konsumenter i köpriktning och motverka de faktorer som påverkar konsumenter i icke-köpriktning, kan företag/varumärken uppnå företagsnytta.

In recent decades, political scientists have devoted substantial attention to the changing role of the state towards more inclusion of non-state actors in policymaking. This deliberative turn, or move towards governance, may signal inability to handle complex problems without cooperation with nonstate actors. On the other hand, governance is frequently credited with generating legitimate decision-making processes and results. In some instances, non-governmental actors have even taken the lead in policymaking. One archetype of such private governance, which has received significant scholarly attention, is forest certification. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is frequently described as the most democratic and therefore legitimate forest certification organization since it grants equal voting rights to three stakeholder groups in the formulation of criteria for responsible forestry: environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs), social groups (indigenous peoples and labor organizations) and forest owners. However, in Sweden, a country often described as a role model in forest certification, the FSC has increasingly received critique for failing to generate legitimate processes and results, and recently three of five ENGOs have chosen to exit the FSC organization. Such processes of de-legitimation have received little attention in the forest certification literature. This thesis therefore provides a critical assessment of the legitimacy of forest certification in Sweden. Legitimacy is analyzed through concerned stakeholders’ perceptions of both procedural qualities (input legitimacy) and problem-solving capacity (output legitimacy). This study of legitimacy is combined with an assessment of the ability of certification to enhance environmental protection, defined as changes in both forest management practices and biophysical conditions. The thesis focuses not the least on legitimacy on the local level, which is where the actual implementation takes place. Today local studies of the legitimacy of forest certification are rare. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are applied and a number of sources are analyzed: forest monitoring data, survey data, interviews with and documents produced by the participating stakeholders. Papers I and IV analyze the perceived legitimacy of forest certification, while Papers II and III analyze forest certification schemes’ ability to enhance environmental protection. The results show that a process of de-legitimation is occurring in Swedish forest certification. In particular, certification has lost legitimacy with ENGOs, which increasingly consider Swedish forest certification to lack both input legitimacy and output legitimacy. Moreover, although the Swedish FSC standard pays attention to reindeer husbandry, the results show that reindeer herders consider themselves to have limited power to influence long-term forest planning and management (low output legitimacy). The forest industry, on the other hand, increasingly grants legitimacy to forest certification due to customer demands, which are created not the least by pressures from international ENGOs and by EU regulation. The results also show that Swedish forest companies have paid more attention to their environmental practices after obtaining certification. However, to what extent these changes result in positive environmental impacts remains uncertain, especially since forests in Sweden grow slowly, which requires analyses over time. There are also measurement problems resulting from the low certification rate among small-scale forest owners and from the fact that certified small-scale owners tend to be more active in their management. These findings highlight that research on private forest governance should not neglect the role of the state, neither as a buyer nor as a regulator. These findings also suggest that further research should pay attention to power asymmetries in private governance and develop methods for better understanding and evaluating the certification schemes’ environmental and social impacts.

Social or environmental labelling- Consumers’ knowledge, attitudes and preferencesEngelska nyckelord: labelling, social or environmental labelling, eco-labelling, sustainability, transparency, fashion consumer, visual/verbal communication, consumer buying behaviour, green consumerism.Sammanfattning på engelska: In the recent years the Swedish fashion retailers have increased their range of various social or environmental labels on their garments which in return has created confusion amongst the fashion consumers. Currently, there are approximately fourteen different third-party labelling standards in Sweden and a diverse range of self-controlled labelling standards. The reason for this increase can partly be explained by the increasing pressure from various actors to act more sustainably and ethically, and companies having realized a competitive advantage by adopting sustainable strategies. This study provides a preliminary exploration into the types of social and environmental labels that are available on the Swedish market and consumers’ knowledge, attitudes and preferences regarding these labels. Based on two focus group discussions held at two different occasions, respondents indicated that environmental labelling of clothing could influence their purchase decision positively if product related attributes (design and quality) have the same standard as non-sustainable clothing. Although consumers’ knowledge about the social or environmental labels is relatively low, they have an increased interest to learn more about the various labels and the potential environmental impact the fashion industry may cause. However, the growing involvement of taking social or environmental issues into consideration does not always lead to consumers actually purchasing eco-friendlier clothes, and thus these two “identities” are not yet compatible with each other.Additionally, consumers respond differently to positive and negative labelling, where negative labelling seems to have a stronger effect on their feelings and may influence their purchase decision. When it comes to the design of the label, visual and verbal communications are additives and a label should also have a numerical rating system, which states how sustainable a garment is in comparison to other garments. Furthermore, the logo should be more coherent with the fashion industry in terms of colours and illustrations. Moreover, consumers think that there is a lack of information at the point of purchase regarding the social and environmental labels and this should be addressed with either QR-code or by providing a simple brochure. / Program: Textilt management, fashion management

As SMEs transformation to sustainable practices in manufacturing, processing and services, is declared to be the key to a green growth model, the research in this thesis aims to understand in what way eco-labelling can be a part of that. In order to approach this complex issue, the thesis aims to identify the greening potential and the limits of contemporary eco-labelling schemes for SME product within the German coffee-processing sector. With regard to that, the thesis applied the policy evaluation method "Program Theory Evaluation" (PTE), which assesses a policy in place and thus provides information how the introduction and the function of eco-labelling schemes is observed and perceived by German coffee-processing SMEs (GCPS). Hence, based on a policy evaluation from a rational perspective, which has the focus on the policy’s problem-solving process and implementation cycle, the thesis reveals how eco-labelling schemes’ underlying theoretical greening strategy act in practice to German coffee-processing SME (GCPS). Thereby it could be evaluated that eco-labelling schemes imply shortcomings to address and green GCPS high quality coffee products. As the PTE-method aims also on optimizing the policy’s rationalisation, the inappropriate or failed implementation of eco-labelling schemes by GCPS has been further explored. To grasp the eco-labelling schemes extent of limits to green GCPS products, the thesis compares and analyses the policy evaluation results against the backdrop of eco-labelling schemes’ normative theoretical policy conception and in the light of "Environmental Authority of Political Consumerism (Ecological Modernisation Theory)". With regard to that, the thesis fosters a policy learning process and uncovers that eco-labelling scheme eco-labelling schemes potential to green GCPS products is limited and conditioned to this a lower level of sustainable value as they are focused to supply mainly the demand for mainstream coffee products. Hence, the thesis concludes that it is not the underlying rationality of eco-labelling schemes, namely being a consumer-oriented and market-based policy instrument that does not apply to green GCPS products. However, this opens up a new perspective as it points out a sustainable quality gap between products using eco-labelling schemes and non-labelled GCPS high quality products. In return this raises considerations in terms of improving eco-labelling schemes’ contribution to sustainable development. Thus the thesis argues to optimize their rationalization with regard to GCPS high quality products as frontrunners of tomorrow’s sustainability.

Our common future involves many important challenges. People and nature need to improve the relationship in order to reach an ecologically sustainable development. In a society where consumption of products steadily increases, the consumer awareness about social and environmental issues connected to the products becomes an importent factor. More and more companies choose to work more actively with these issues and more and more products get labelled by some of the eco labelling organisations. From the cradle to the gate means that a study has been done on a part of a products life cycle. In this master thesis a pair of cotton trousers has been followed from the cotton field and through the manufacturing chain in order to sees how much resource that are connected to the cultivation and to the production. Methological approach has been Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) according to ISO 14040. The empirical material is collected in South India, in an area known for its intense cotton manufacturing. Studies like this can be a good way of showing the environmental impacts of a certain product. LCI can for example work as a criterion for eco labelling, but the methodology could also support the overall environmental work in companies.

Efforts to reduce negative impacts from consumption and production include voluntary market-based initiatives. Examples are the concept of eco-labelling and the concept of green procurement. These have emerged as policy instruments with great potentials to steer product innovation and purchasing decisions in a sustainable direction. This potential has been recognized by the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and national governments through, e.g., various programmes and schemes. The aim of this thesis is to assess current criteria development processes within eco-labelling and green procurement from a strategic sustainability perspective and to describe possible improvement potentials from such a perspective to make these instruments more supportive of sustainable product and service innovation. A previously published framework for strategic sustainable development, including a definition of sustainability and generic guidelines to inform strategies towards sustainability, is adapted and used for this purpose. Criteria development processes in two Swedish eco-labelling programmes and at a governmental expert body for green procurement are studied. This includes interviews with criteria developers, studies of process documents and a case study at the governmental expert body for green procurement in which two criteria development processes were shadowed. The result reveals several strengths but also gaps and thus potentials for improvement. The criteria development processes and the resulting criteria mostly concern the current market supply and a selection of current environmental impacts outside the context of long-term objectives. Neither sustainability nor any other clearly defined long-term objective is agreed upon, and the criteria are not structured to support procurers, suppliers and product developers in a systematic and strategic stepwise approach towards sustainability. Recommended improvements include a more thorough sustainability assessment, communication of clearer objectives, broader competence in the criteria development groups and more emphasis on the dialogue and interaction between key actors. This includes an extended view on both the product concept and actors involved. Based on this, a new criteria development prototype is suggested, which aims at widening the scope from some currently known product impacts to the remaining gap to sustainability. During its further development and implementation, the criteria development prototype will be tested in successive iterations of action research together with experienced practitioners within eco-labelling and green procurement.

Background: The tourism industry is one of the largest industries in the world, with annual revenues exceeding US$ 850 billion. Because of the size and nature of the industry, tourism is seen as one of the largest contributors to the negative effects on the environment today. Within the tourism industry, there exist more than 70 eco-labels representing various environmental standards. However, none of them are widely used within the tourism industry. Purpose: This thesis investigates how the use of the two eco-labels Svanen and Green Globe affect Swedish students’ perception of a package tour marketing campaign. It investigates how students’ perceptions of advertisement differ between advertisement for package tours with and without incorporated eco-labels. Method: The study uses a mixed method with a sequential explanatory strategy. The quantitative part consists of a survey and the qualitative part consists of follow up interviews with a number of interviewees who are all respondents in the quantitative part. This thesis primarily focuses on the quantitative part, which consists of three questionnaires, one of which contains an advertisement for Ving, and two which used the same advertisement but which have been manipulated to include Green Globe and Svanen respectively. Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that students’ perception of advertisement does not differ between the advertisement not using an eco-label and the ones manipulated to include Green Globe or Svanen. The reasons to why the perception does not differ are explained by eco-labels having failed in communicating what they stand for. Students have limited financial resources, which constrains them from behaving in an environmentally friendly way. In addition, the advertisement including eco-lables is congruent with the students’ perception about the brand Ving as an environmentally friendly company. There is however factors that indicate that eco-labelling in the tourism industry can work as a partial solution for a more sustainable future. / Bakgrund: Turismindustrin är en av de största industrierna i världen, med årliga inkomster på över US$ 850 miljarder. På grund av storleken och dess påverkan, anses turismen vara en av de största orsakerna till den negativa utvecklingen av miljön. Inom turismindustrin existerar mer än 70 miljö märkningar som representerar olika miljöstandarder. Dock har inga av dem sett någon större användning inom turismindustrin. Syfte: Syftet med denna rapport är att undersöka hur användning av de två miljömärkningarna Green Globe och Svanen påverkar studenters uppfattning av en reklamkampanj för charter resor. Den undersöker hur studenters uppfattning om reklam för charter resor skiljer sig mellan reklam som använder miljömärkning och den som inte gör det. Metod: Denna studie använder en blandad metod med en sekventiell strategi. Den kvantitativa delen består av enkätundersökningar och för den kvalitativa delen används intervjuer med några deltagare från den kvantitativa delen. Störst fokus ligger på den kvantitativa delen som består av tre olika enkäter, en som innehåller en reklam bild på Ving, och två som manipulerats att innehålla Green Globe respektive Svanen. Slutsats: Slutsatsen av studien är att studenters uppfattning om annonserna inte skiljer sig mellan annonsen utan miljömärkning och de som manipulerats med Green Globe eller Svanen. Anledning till att uppfattningen inte skiljer sig kan förklaras av att miljö märkningarna har misslyckats med att kommunicera vad dem står för. Studenterna har begränsade ekonomiska resurser och detta begränsar dem att uppföra sig på ett miljövänligt sätt. Dessutom överrensstämmer reklamen som innehöll miljö märkning med studenternas uppfattning om varumärket Ving som ett miljö vänligt företag. Det finns dock faktorer som tyder på att miljömärkning inom turistnäringen kan fungera som en del av lösningen för en mer hållbar framtid.

<p><strong>Background: </strong>The tourism industry is one of the largest industries in the world, with annual revenues exceeding US$ 850 billion. Because of the size and nature of the industry, tourism is seen as one of the largest contributors to the negative effects on the environment today. Within the tourism industry, there exist more than 70 eco-labels representing various environmental standards. However, none of them are widely used within the tourism industry.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong><em>This thesis investigates how the use of the two eco-labels Svanen and Green Globe affect Swedish students’ perception of a package tour marketing campaign. It investigates how students’ perceptions of advertisement differ between advertisement for package tours with and without incorporated eco-labels.</em></p><p><strong>Method: </strong>The study uses a mixed method with a sequential explanatory strategy. The quantitative part consists of a survey and the qualitative part consists of follow up interviews with a number of interviewees who are all respondents in the quantitative part. This thesis primarily focuses on the quantitative part, which consists of three questionnaires, one of which contains an advertisement for Ving, and two which used the same advertisement but which have been manipulated to include Green Globe and Svanen respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The conclusion of the study is that students’ perception of advertisement does not differ between the advertisement not using an eco-label and the ones manipulated to include Green Globe or Svanen. The reasons to why the perception does not differ are explained by eco-labels having failed in communicating what they stand for. Students have limited financial resources, which constrains them from behaving in an environmentally friendly way. In addition, the advertisement including eco-lables is congruent with the students’ perception about the brand Ving as an environmentally friendly company. There is however factors that indicate that eco-labelling in the tourism industry can work as a partial solution for a more sustainable future.</p> / <p><strong>Bakgrund: </strong>Turismindustrin är en av de största industrierna i världen, med årliga inkomster på över US$ 850 miljarder. På grund av storleken och dess påverkan, anses turismen vara en av de största orsakerna till den negativa utvecklingen av miljön. Inom turismindustrin existerar mer än 70 miljö märkningar som representerar olika miljöstandarder. Dock har inga av dem sett någon större användning inom turismindustrin.</p><p><strong>Syfte: </strong><em>Syftet med denna rapport är att undersöka hur användning av de två miljömärkningarna Green Globe och Svanen påverkar studenters uppfattning av en reklamkampanj för charter resor. Den undersöker hur studenters uppfattning om reklam för charter resor skiljer sig mellan reklam som använder miljömärkning och den som inte gör det.</em></p><p><strong>Metod: </strong>Denna studie använder en blandad metod med en sekventiell strategi. Den kvantitativa delen består av enkätundersökningar och för den kvalitativa delen används intervjuer med några deltagare från den kvantitativa delen. Störst fokus ligger på den kvantitativa delen som består av tre olika enkäter, en som innehåller en reklam bild på Ving, och två som manipulerats att innehålla Green Globe respektive Svanen.</p><p><strong>Slutsats: </strong>Slutsatsen av studien är att studenters uppfattning om annonserna inte skiljer sig mellan annonsen utan miljömärkning och de som manipulerats med Green Globe eller Svanen. Anledning till att uppfattningen inte skiljer sig kan förklaras av att miljö märkningarna har misslyckats med att kommunicera vad dem står för. Studenterna har begränsade ekonomiska resurser och detta begränsar dem att uppföra sig på ett miljövänligt sätt. Dessutom överrensstämmer reklamen som innehöll miljö märkning med studenternas uppfattning om varumärket Ving som ett miljö vänligt företag. Det finns dock faktorer som tyder på att miljömärkning inom turistnäringen kan fungera som en del av lösningen för en mer hållbar framtid.</p>

Svanen är en av världens ledande miljömärkningar och firade nyligen 20 års jubileum. Det har under ett antal år varit möjligt att förutom produkter även svanenmärka tjänster och verksamheter, så som exempelvis restauranger och hotell. För att miljöarbetet inom en verksamhet ska fungera så bra som möjligt är kommunikationen i denna av yttersta vikt. Det har inte utförts några kända studier kring hur kommunikationen på Svanenmärkta hotell fungerar vilket är motivet bakom denna studie. Det finns en misstänksamhet i samhället mot miljömärkta varor och greenwashing har blivit ett allt vanligare begrepp, vilket innebär att företag utnyttjar miljömärkningar för att få ett bättre anseende på marknaden och inte för att egentligen gynna miljön. Syftet med denna studie har varit att titta på hur miljökommunikationen fungerar inom Svanenmärkta hotell. Ett delsyfte har även varit att ta reda på huruvida medarbetarna på hotellen uppfattar att verksamheten genomsyras av en miljömedvetenhet, något som Svanen strävar efter med sin miljömärkning. En fallstudie av två Svanencertifierade hotell har utförts genom intervjuer av personal från olika avdelningar på dessa hotell. Intervjumaterialet har sedan transkriberats och analyserats för att kunna dra slutsatser utifrån den fakta som framkommit. Även en litteraturstudie har genomförts i syfte att studera tidigare forskning i ämnet. Dessutom har material gällande hotellens miljörutiner granskats och analyserats. Resultaten från fallstudien visar att medarbetarna på hotellen är nöjda med kommunikationen över lag, detta trots att det i princip inte finns någon kommunikation mellan avdelningarna på hotellen. Visst utrymme för förbättring finns dock och både koncernen samt inom hotellen skulle det förmodligen tjänas på att decentralisera miljöfrågorna. På båda hotellen anses även att en miljömedvetenhet genomsyrar verksamheterna. Detta skulle kunna vara en följd av Svanencertifieringen, det kan även bero på andra orsaker.

In the midst of climate change and growing concern about social aspects, investors want to make informed sustainable choices regarding their consumption and investments. Many companies are trying to stay ahead of the curve by engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility. Mutual funds have noticed this trend and subsequently have started to offer ethical mutual funds as a result. These ethical claims are difficult to scrutinize for investors creating a problem of asymmetric information. This study analyses how ethical claims and how eco-labels, in this case, the Nordic Swan Ecolabel relate to demand for equity mutual funds. In a world where more investors are seeking ethical investments, how is ethical commitment communicated in a trustworthy way? Data on daily Net Asset Value (NAV) and monthly Total Net Assets (TNA) between 2016-01-01 and 2019-12-31, for 217 equity mutual funds sold on the Swedish market were collected from Thomson &amp; Reuters database Eikon. These mutual funds were categorized into three groups, conventional, non-labelled ethical, and eco-labelled mutual funds. The data was structured as panel data and both random effect and fixed effect models were used to estimate the factor loadings. The study shows that Nordic Swan Ecolabelled mutual funds tend to experience higher demand than both non-labelled ethical mutual funds and conventional mutual funds. In other words, the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled group distinguishes itself from the other mutual fund groups. Hence, the results of the study suggest that the Nordic Swan Ecolabel sends a signal that relates positively to the demand for mutual funds. Further, the results implicate that mutual fund companies that aim to introduce mutual funds that are truly ethical or sustainable should consider acquiring the Nordic Swan Ecolabel to signal their sustainability commitment since the results suggest that Nordic Swan Ecolabelled mutual funds have a positive relation to demand, both compared to conventional mutual funds and non-labelled ethical mutual funds. / I en tid präglad av klimatförändring och ökande medvetenhet om sociala aspekter vill investerare ta informerade beslut angående sin konsumtion och angående sina investeringar. Många företag försöker ligga i framkant för en hållbar utveckling genom att ägna sig åt Corporate Social Responsibility. Fondföretag har märkt av denna trend och har därför börjat erbjuda etiska fonder till sina kunder. Huruvida dessa fonder faktiskt är etiska kan vara svårt för investerare att undersöka vilket skapar asymmetrisk information mellan fondföretag och investerare. Denna studie analyserar hur aktiefonders påståenden om att investera etiskt relaterar till efterfrågan på dessa aktiefonder och hur eko-märkningar, i detta fall Svanen-märkningen relaterar till aktiefonders efterfrågan. Hur ska fonders etiska åtaganden kommuniceras på ett trovärdigt sätt i en värld där mer och mer investerare söker sig till etiska investeringar? Dagligt nettoandelsvärde (NAV-kurs) och månatlig fondförmögenhet (TNA) för 217 aktiefonder sålda på den svenska marknaden under tidsperioden 2016-01-01 och 2019-12-31 samlades in från Thomson &amp; Reuters databas Eikon. Dessa fonder delades in i tre grupper, dessa var konventionella, icke-märkta etiska fonder samt eko-märkta fonder. Datan strukturerades som paneldata och både random effects och fixed effects modeller användes för att estimera faktorerna i regressionen. Studien visar att Svanenmärkta fonder tenderar att ha högre efterfrågan än både icke-märkta etiska fonder och konventionella fonder. Med andra ord så utmärker sig de Svanen-märkta fonderna jämfört med de andra grupperna. Resultatet av studien tyder därför på att Svanen-märkningen sänder en signal som relaterar till efterfrågan för en fond. Resultatet av studien implicerar även att fondföretag som ämnar att introducera fonder som faktiskt uppfyller de etiska och hållbara krav de påstår sig göra, bör överväga att förvärva Svanen-märkningen för att signalera sina etiska och hållbara åtaganden, då resultatet föreslår att Svanenmärkta fonder har en positiv relation till efterfrågan, både jämfört med konventionella fonder och icke-märkta etiska fonder.