Today there is a lack of official environmental labels for mobile phones. In addition, at the moment it does not necessarily mean that a product is more sustainable because it is marketed as green or as environmentally friendly. It has to be easier for consumers to evaluate and pit “green” products against each other, as well as create a picture of which model is the most environmentally adopted and within which issues the biggest environmental benefits lay. The aim of this study is to analyse a selection of smartphones, which are sold by TDC SE, through a lifecycle perspective. The selection will be limited to the major suppliers and their most commonly sold phones by TDC. The purpose of the analysis is to classify the selected models based on their environmental and social impacts in their different lifecycle stages, and to present the results to the customers so they can consider that in their decisions. The following models were assessed in the study: iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s from Apple; Lumia 550, Lumia 650 and Lumia 950 from Microsoft; Galaxy A3 2016, Galaxy Xcover3 and Galaxy S6 from Samsung; as well as Xperia Z5, Xperia M4 Aqua and Xperia M5 from Sony. The study has developed a tool for analysing and characterizing the Smartphones’ sustainability performance. Several sustainability categories was developed, which each consists of a set of sustainability criterions, in order to analyse the models sustainability performances. The analysis has considered key issues, problem areas and impacts reading the smartphones sustainability performance. The characterization applies a scoring system in regards to how the models perform within the selected criteria compared to the industry’s average performance level (representing industry standard) as well as best practice examples. The assessed sustainability criterions are then additionally analysed through a multi-criteria analysis (MCA). In the MCA the criterions relevance are weighted and combined to an overall sustainability score of the models performance in each category. The study also examines the possibility for consumers to weight the different sustainability categories into an overall sustainability score for each model. This enable the customers to rank the models sustainability performance based on their preference (which categories that is more or less important to them). Regarding the models characterised sustainability performance it is clear that Samsung Galaxy S6 overall performs the highest of the studied models. In addition, all the Samsung models preformed high in general (except that Galaxy Xcover3 and A3 preformed the lowest of all the models in regards to environmentally preferable alternatives). Microsoft generally performed quite high and especially high in regards to life prolonging features and the use phase (were Lumia 950 scored especially high). Although, Microsoft performed quite low in regards to environmentally preferable alternatives as well as lifecycle thinking. Apple preformed high (scored higher than the other suppliers) in regards to environmentally preferable alternatives. However, in general Apple performed quite low, especially regarding life prolonging features and iPhone 5s also scored the lowest of all models in regards to substances of concern. Sony preformed very high in regards to I lifecycle thinking and the use phase and in general quite high in most categories (expect that the Xperia M5 model preformed among the lowest in regards to transportation). The result of the study has been highly affected by the degree of available information concerning the different models and suppliers. It is also interesting that models from different suppliers (with similar degree of available information) ranked differently relative to each other depending on the weighting (preference) between the different sustainability categories. Moreover, the study had to consider and find a balance between available information and desirable information. This mainly refers to the development and definition of industry standards and best practice levels. The study had to consider and decide what could be expected and measured/evaluated in regards to the independent demands, criticism and issues which the industry face. After concluding the study it is clear that the result has been greatly affected by the degree of available information for the studied models. It is also clear that today there is a great lack of model specific information and data. The study also found that it is important with feedback and follow-up communication with the suppliers, in order to correct misunderstandings and provide clarifications. In conclusion, the result of the study can be used as a decision basis for customers who wish to consider the smartphones’ sustainability performance is their choice. / Pris och funktion är fortfarande de avgörande faktorerna vid köp, men miljön håller mer och mer på att bli ett avgörande kriterium och intresset för ”grön” IT ökar. De officiella miljömärkningarna och oberoende granskningarna av elektronikföretag kan hjälpa konsumenter att göra bra val bland butikernas utbud. I Sverige finns det dock endast en officiell miljömörkning för mobiltelefoner, TCO certifieringen. Det blir dock mer och mer vanligt med eco-ratings, till exempel Eco Rating 2.0 och certifiering enligt UL 110 standarden för mobiltelefoner. Idag finns det alltså en brist på officiella miljömärkningar för mobiltelefoner och för tillfället så betyder det inte nödvändigtvis att en produkt är mer miljövänlig bara för att den marknadsförs som grön eller som miljöanpassad. Därför måste det bli enklare för konsumenter att utvärdera och ställa gröna produkter mot varandra samt att bilda sig en bild över vilken modell som tar mest hänsyn till miljön och inom vilka frågor som den största miljönyttan ligger. Målet med studien har varit att analysera ett urval av smartelefoner som säljs av TDC utifrån ett livscykelperspektiv. Urvalet har begränsats till de största leverantörerna och deras telefoner som vanligtvis säljs mest av TDC. Syftet med analysen har varit att klassificera de utvalda modellerna baserat på deras miljömässiga och sociala påverkan i deras olika livscykelfaser, samt att presentera resultatet till kunderna så de kan ta hänsyn till detta i deras val. De följande modellerna utvärderade i studien: iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 och iPhone 6s från Apple; Lumia 550, Lumia 650 och Lumia 950 från Microsoft; Galaxy A3 2016, Galaxy Xcover3 and Galaxy S6 from Samsung; samt Xperia Z5, Xperia M4 Aqua och Xperia M5 från Sony. Studien har utvecklat ett verktyg för att analysera och karakterisera smarttelefonernas hållbarhetsprestanda. Flera hållbarhetskategorier utvecklade och tog fram, som i sin tur består av ett flertal hållbarhetskriterier, för att kunna analysera modellernas hållbarhetsprestanda. Analysen har tagit hänsyn till nyckelfrågor, problemområden och påverkan rörande smarttelefonernas hållbarhetsprestanda. Hållbarhetskriterierna har valts ut baserat på informationen som samlats in i screeningen, käraktaren hos de data som erhållits från leverantörerna samt tillgängliga mått och möjligheten att utvärdera de valda kriterierna. I karakteriseringen så tillämpas ett betygsystem relaterat till hur modellerna presterar inom de vala kriterierna jämfört med industrins genomsnittliga prestationsnivå (representerar industristandard) och best praxis exempels. Där den högsta nivån innebär att hållbarhetskriteriet behandlas utöver industristandard (representerar best practice). Den mellersta nivån innebär att hållbarhetskriteriet behandlas på samma nivå som industristandarden. Och den lägsta nivån innebär att hållbarhetskriteriet inte finns tillgänglig för allmänheten. De utvärderade hållbarhetskriterierna blir sen ytterligare analyserade med hjälp av en Multi- kriterium analys (MCA), där kriterierna viktas baserats på deras relevans och kombineras till ett övergripande poäng av modellens prestation i varje kategori. Viktningen tar även hänsyn till hur (progressiv) svårt det är att uppnå best practice nivån jämfört med industristandarden samt att uppnå industristandarden. Studien undersöker även möjligheten för kunderna att vikta de olika hållbarhetskategorierna till ett övergripande poäng för varje modell. Detta görs för att kunna ranka modellernas hållbarhetsprestanda basrat på kundernas preferens (vilka kategoriers som är mer eller mindre viktiga för dem). <img src="file:///page6image25648" /> Baserat på modellernas karakteriserade hållbarhetsprestanda är det klart att Samsung Galaxy S6 på det hela taget presterade högst av alla de studerade modellerna. Alla Samsungs modeller presterar också generellt väldigt högt (bortsett från att Galaxy Xcover3 and A3 presterade lägst III av alla modeller med hänsyn till miljövänliga alternativ). Mikrosoft presterade generellt ganska högt och speciellt högt med hänseende till livsförlängande funktioner och användarfasen (där Lumia 950 presterade speciellt högt). Dock så presterade Microsoft ganska lågt inom miljövänliga alternativ samt livscykeltänkande. Apple presterade högt (fick högre poäng än de andra leverantörerna) inom miljövänliga alternativ. Dock så presterade Apple generellt ganska lågt, speciellt med hänsyn till livsförlängande funktioner och iPhone 5s presterade också lägst av alla modeller inom potentiellt farliga ämnen. Sony presterade väldigt högt med hänsyn till livscykeltänkande och användarfasen, samt ganska högt in de flesta kategorierna (förutom att Xperia M5 modellen presterade bland de lägst inom transporter). Studiens resultat har till stor del påverkats av de olika graderna av tillgänglig information för de olika modellerna. Det är också väldigt intressant att modeller från olika leverantörer (med liknande grad av tillgänglig information) rankades olika relaterat till varandra beroende på viktningen (preferensen) mellan de olika hållbarhetskategorierna. Studien har också till stor del behövt ta hänsyn till och hitta en balans mellan tillgänglig information och önskad information. Detta referera främst till framtagningen och definitionen av industristandards och best practice nivåerna. Studien har behövt betrakta och bestämma vad som kan förväntas, mätas och utvärderas relaterat till de oberoende krav, kritik och frågor som industrin står inför. Efter att studien slutförts är det klart att resultatet till stor del har påverkats av de olika graderna av tillgänglig information för de studerade modellerna. Det är även klart att der finns en stor brist på modellspecifik information för de studerade modellerna. Studien kom fram till att det är viktigt med återkoppling och uppföljande kommunikation med leverantörerna, för att rätta till missförstånd och tillhandahålla klargöranden. Avslutningsvis så kan studiens resultat användas som beslutsunderlagg för kunder som vill ta hänsyns till smarttelefonernas hållbarhetsprestanda i sitt val.

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<p><strong> ABSTRACT</strong></p><p>The recent years mark the appearance of many Eco-label schemes in the attempt ofhelping consumer to recognize the products with less harm to the environment, forexample: Euro flower, Nordic swan, Blue Angle, Krav. These labels belong to the thirdparties, which get supports from government with object of achieving sustainabledevelopment. However there is still lacking a clear understanding about theeffectiveness of Eco-label in consumer consumption activities due to the lack ofresearch working on that field. We take this challenge as an opportunity to do the studyof investigating about the role of Eco-label in the process of leading consumers topurchase Eco-products. The research focuses on Swedish university students‘ choice onecological food.</p><p>A number of Swedish students in Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden are selected as thegroup of respondents for this study. In order to understand the effectiveness of Eco-labelin students‘ food products choice, four key factors are taken into account to invest igate:students‘ awareness on Eco-label, students‘ knowledge on Eco-label & ecological food,students‘ environment motivation, and the availability of ecological food & Eco-labelinformation. The demographic characters including gender and education backgroundsare known as the influence factors among these four factors.</p><p>The results proved the effectiveness of Eco-label as the guiding instrument for students‘product choice towards ecological food. It provided the evidence that three of these fourfactors above (accept the only one external factors: availability) can encourage students‘attention to Eco-label. In additional, student‘s attention to Eco-label can actually leadtheir purchase behavior on ecological food. With findings and recommendations, thestudy is expected to contribute to the field of ecological consumer behavior marketingresearch. However, the representative of the results is risky because of the limitedcontext and sample of the study.</p>

Voluntary environmental labeling or certification programs provide information about the environmental characteristics of one or more aspects of a product’s life cycle to consumers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy were among the first governmental agencies in the world to adopt environmental information programs. This study examines two U.S. programs – Energy Star, an energy efficiency labeling program, and Green Power Partnership (GPP), a green energy purchasing program, and estimates how much consumers are willing to pay for refrigerators that have been awarded these labels and what factors motivate that willingness to pay. The data were obtained from a survey conducted in March and April of 2009 via an online research panel, which was constructed to be representative of the U.S. population. Analysis of the data was conducted using conditional logit regression models with fixed parameters and mixed logit regression models with random parameters. Results revealed that consumers, on average, have a willingness to pay ranging from $237.81 to $350.54 for the Energy Star label and a willingness to pay ranging from $48.52 to $70.95 for the GPP label. The results also indicate that consumer demographics and attitudes influence WTP. In particular, individuals with greater levels of stated concern for the environment or individuals exhibiting strong perceptions on the effectiveness of consumers to affect product design and the ambient environment had a greater likelihood of choosing a labeled alternative, and thus, a greater WTP for both the Energy Star and GPP label. To manufacturers and government regulators, these results suggest that energy labels can play a significant role in a consumer’s decision making process when selecting a new appliance.

ABSTRACT The recent years mark the appearance of many Eco-label schemes in the attempt ofhelping consumer to recognize the products with less harm to the environment, forexample: Euro flower, Nordic swan, Blue Angle, Krav. These labels belong to the thirdparties, which get supports from government with object of achieving sustainabledevelopment. However there is still lacking a clear understanding about theeffectiveness of Eco-label in consumer consumption activities due to the lack ofresearch working on that field. We take this challenge as an opportunity to do the studyof investigating about the role of Eco-label in the process of leading consumers topurchase Eco-products. The research focuses on Swedish university students‘ choice onecological food. A number of Swedish students in Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden are selected as thegroup of respondents for this study. In order to understand the effectiveness of Eco-labelin students‘ food products choice, four key factors are taken into account to invest igate:students‘ awareness on Eco-label, students‘ knowledge on Eco-label &amp; ecological food,students‘ environment motivation, and the availability of ecological food &amp; Eco-labelinformation. The demographic characters including gender and education backgroundsare known as the influence factors among these four factors. The results proved the effectiveness of Eco-label as the guiding instrument for students‘product choice towards ecological food. It provided the evidence that three of these fourfactors above (accept the only one external factors: availability) can encourage students‘attention to Eco-label. In additional, student‘s attention to Eco-label can actually leadtheir purchase behavior on ecological food. With findings and recommendations, thestudy is expected to contribute to the field of ecological consumer behavior marketingresearch. However, the representative of the results is risky because of the limitedcontext and sample of the study.

Sustainable consumption has become a crucial factor to consider for both consumers and manufacturing firms. Green marketing practices, or marketing activities aimed at decreasing the impact on the environment, have been incorporated into many business plans to combat old habits of wastefulness and pollution. One very popular method that has come to prominence over the recent years is eco-labeling of products and services. Eco-labels are logos that represent that a product or service has met standardized criteria set by a certifying organization and that it is deemed a sustainable option in its product category. The focus of this study will center-on well-known and established eco-labels in the Swedish market, namely the Swan, Bra Miljöval, KRAV, EU-Ecolabel and the Marine Stewardship Council eco-labels. Eco-labels are tools for communication which can be used to facilitate the practice of sustainable consumption. However, there are many factors that influence the consumer’s ability to understand the message of the eco-label which in turn can affect their capacity to adopt the sustainable behavior. The purpose of this study is to determine if Swedish consumers understand the eco-label’s message and if this message affects their green purchasing. These results were related to message quality as defined by the International Standards Organization 14063 standard for environmental communication (2004 cited in Strömdahl, 2005, p. 15; Von Ahn &amp; Wikström, 2005, p. 33-34) and other notable factors found from a literature review. The following research questions were answered: • Do consumers understand the message of an eco-label?      o What are the factors related to understanding the eco-label? • Do awareness and understanding affect purchase behavior of and eco-label?      o What are the factors related to the purchase of eco-labeled products? A quantitative approach has been used in this research project and a survey has been administered at supermarkets in the Umeå area. To confirm the message of the eco-labels, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the issuing organizations prior to designing the questionnaire. A total of 152 responses were collected from the survey and analyzed with frequency distributions, independent sample t-tests and contingency tables where a significance level of chi-square of .05 or lower was required. The results of the study indicate that customer understanding and purchase behavior varied by each eco-label. Message quality can have a significant impact on understanding of the eco-label. Also, other personal factors were related to understanding and purchase behavior with nationality giving evidence of the strongest relationship.

Voluntary environmental labeling or certification programs provide information about the environmental characteristics of one or more aspects of a product’s life cycle to consumers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy were among the first governmental agencies in the world to adopt environmental information programs. This study examines two U.S. programs – Energy Star, an energy efficiency labeling program, and Green Power Partnership (GPP), a green energy purchasing program, and estimates how much consumers are willing to pay for refrigerators that have been awarded these labels and what factors motivate that willingness to pay. The data were obtained from a survey conducted in March and April of 2009 via an online research panel, which was constructed to be representative of the U.S. population. Analysis of the data was conducted using conditional logit regression models with fixed parameters and mixed logit regression models with random parameters. Results revealed that consumers, on average, have a willingness to pay ranging from $237.81 to $350.54 for the Energy Star label and a willingness to pay ranging from $48.52 to $70.95 for the GPP label. The results also indicate that consumer demographics and attitudes influence WTP. In particular, individuals with greater levels of stated concern for the environment or individuals exhibiting strong perceptions on the effectiveness of consumers to affect product design and the ambient environment had a greater likelihood of choosing a labeled alternative, and thus, a greater WTP for both the Energy Star and GPP label. To manufacturers and government regulators, these results suggest that energy labels can play a significant role in a consumer’s decision making process when selecting a new appliance.

The purpose in this thesis is to analyse which information about the sustainable impacts in fashion supply chain is the most important for the consumer. To find out how the eco-label can be designed with information and messages about the sustainable producing process, and to make the consumer more safe and satisfied with the fashion industry’s communication about sustainability and their sustainable products. - How to define sustainability in fashion supply chain? - What information about eco-labeled clothes does the fashion consumers require? - What are the conditions for creating and designing sustainable messages on the clothing’s eco-labels? In the final definition of sustainability according to this study, the focus falls on four distinctive expressions, which are, good working conditions, profitability, comfort and human needs. To explain this further, the good working conditions and the human needs have to do with wellbeing and health for the consumer and workers. Profitability has to do with the economy for both companies and consumers, and comfort is something both consumers and workers strive for. So the finally definition of sustainability in this thesis is to strive for better health, economy and comfort for all people. The information about eco-labeled clothes that the consumers require, have actually nothing to do with sustainability. However, the consumers require information about price, quality, and comfort. Moreover, if the product would be eco-labeled, the consumer should wish to get reliable information about the working conditions and chemicals, which gives the consumer a chance to know what they are paying for. To be able to create a message the focus should be on significances that increases the consumers self-interests, which in this case would be long lasting quality, health and price. These significances are similar to the earlier presented definition of sustainability, which is to strive for better health, economy and comfort for all people. Here comfort can be a part of the long lasting quality or a part of the good working conditions in the supply chain. Therefore, a sustainable message with reliable information about price and quality should be the symbol that explains how it affects the health, economy, and comfort for both the consumers and the employees in the fashion supply chain.

<p>A hotel stands for comfort and a high stand of living. This could mean a high per capita consumption of energy, water and other resource, as well as creating a large amount of waste and pollution due to the necessity of having a high standard of hygiene and a high turnover of guests.</p><p>This thesis is about the hotel environmental management. After surveys of hotels and interviews with hotel managers as to their environmental management, a case study of a small hotel was carried out, namely the Bastedalen Herrgård and Kina Park.</p><p>The case Bastedalen Herrgård told us that its guests have expressed some requirement to hotel environmental management given the fact that the answer rate was very low. When the guests were asked to provide answers to environmental questions, the dominant answers were positive. But these answers are not necessary leading to the positive behavior. This implies that more in-depth study towards customer’s environmental behavior is needed.</p><p>It was true in Bastedalen that the hotels owner is playing an important roll in the process toward better environmental management and will decide whether or not to do this and in which direction. It was also true that the hotel owner in this case had not enough resources to follow the example of big hotels. A micro-hotel and other SMEs were obviously in need of financial and technical support to be more “green”. They are also short of relevant information and knowledge.</p>

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has used environmental information provision as a policy tool to take advantage of consumer preferences for products that meet higher environmental standards. Such environmental programs include a variety of policies ranging from eco-labeling programs to voluntary environmental agreements between governments and manufacturers. This study analyzes the effects of two such programs - the ENERGY STAR program, an eco-labeling program, and the Climate Leaders program, a voluntary environmental agreement program - on consumer preferences for a household appliance. The study estimates consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for the two programs and examines factors that motivate WTP. A particular interest for the ENERGY STAR program is in determining how the offer of a mail-in rebate affects these preferences. Data used for this study was collected from an online survey conducted in the United States during March and April, 2009. Conditional and random parameter logit models, with product attributes only and with demographic and other individual characteristics as interaction terms, are used to analyze the data. Findings from this study imply that consumers are willing to pay a premium equivalent to a significant portion of the purchase prices for the products approved by either program. Also, it is found that consumers who are more concerned about environmental issues, such as global climate change, and who have confidence in the effects of collective action, are more likely to engage in the purchase of such environmentally friendly products. These results should help government agencies and manufacturers evaluate the effectiveness of environmental information provision programs.