Products that are certified by Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) are environmentally preferable products. GECA certification makes it easy for consumers, industry and government to know which products in a given category are environmentally preferable. These products have been assessed by registered and independent auditors that have no commercial interest in the manufacture or commercial performance of the product.

The assessment is based on international recognised methods – ISO 14024, which serves to confirm that the certified products meet publicly available standards for environmental impact in the relevant product category. The benefit of a voluntary independent environmental label is that all Australians can easily recognise products which are environmentally preferred  (relative to other products in the same category) and they can rely on the independence and scientific reliability of the GECA program because the program is not owned or influenced by commercial or political interest groups.

Business and Industry:

Now manufacturers in Australia, be they large or small, can access an independent accreditation system for their product or service. The years of hard work in development and manufacture for better environmental performance can now be shown and promoted to the market because GECA provides a simple mark of environmental performance that consumers and industry can easily recognise.

There is no need to study the environmental credentials of each product because the GECA mark denotes environmentally preferable products.  GECA also works with industry associations to develop standards which will allow their members to gain recognition for leading their industry sector in improved environmental practices. An Australian eco-label can bring industry significant market benefits in consumer acceptance, purchasing preference and government and corporate purchasing decisions.  GECA’s bilateral agreements with international Ecolabelling organizations aims to provide a basis for trade in environmentally preferable products.

Government:

All levels of Government have been working on a range of market-based incentives to assist in the greening of industry including regulations, commercial incentives and green public procurement. GECA aims to work with governments by providing a market-based instrument that enables industry to develop and promote environmentally preferable products.   GECA certification is based on voluntary standards developed by all stakeholders in a given product category. This serves to relieve government from the need for regulatory intervention and allows the market to function based on reliable information.

GECA is an independent market based mechanism to help the market realise benefits from better environmental performance. We are eager to work with and involve all levels of government in ensuring that the Good Environmental Choice label is the best possible environmental certification program for the Australian market, and Australians for now and into the future.  We are committed to involving all stakeholders in the development of the standards prior to final publication and subsequent revisions.

Consumers:

The Australian public has been subjected to a large amount of environmental fanfare over the last few years by media, the corporate sector with regard to the environmental performance of their products and practices and government with regard to the need for need for a range of policy initiatives to be adopted by industry. There has been an enormous amount of information supplied by the press and a few irresponsible corporates have undermined otherwise progressive suppliers and industries by miss representing the environmental values of their products. GECA aims to deliver a clear and independent basis, to consumers, to make their purchasing decisions.

All certified products will be assessed to published standards and the assessment overview will be available via our web site. All certified products receive the right to place a clear ecolabel on their product, subject to a licensing agreement with GECA, and provide details to customers as to where they can get more information. Based on the GECA mark and environmental assessment program everyday shoppers can trust a certification program that is independent and governments and corporates can exercise their environmental purchasing policies.

Australian consumer environmental preference is strong and growing. Increasingly not on are consumers ready and able to direct their consumer purchasing in favour of environmentally preferably products but so it government, industry and other Australian institutions.