China Environmental Labelling (China Environmental United Certification Center)

China Environmental Labelling program

China Environmental Labelling program was established in 1994 and is owned by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

It’s the first national green product certification scheme and the most successful and influential ecolabelling program in China. It is based on ISO 14024 and is steering the green development of businesses, reducing pollution and driving the green transition. China Environmental Labelling products categories include: printing, furniture, building materials, textiles, electronic products, automobile, daily chemical products, packaging and more. By the end of 2021, China Environmental Labelling had 109 valid criteria, more than 5100 licensees and nearly 1,500,000 certified products.

Since 2006, government procurement has launched China Green Public Procurement (GPP) process and adopted China Environmental Labelling certified products.

With the GPP implementation, the government procurement of China Environmental Labeling certified products have increased from 856 to 1 million. The number of product and services categories have increased from 14 to more than 90, including office equipment, office consumables, vehicles, building materials, furniture, textiles, and more. The number of companies involved in GPP has grown from 81 to more than 4000.

In 2020, government procurement of China Environmental Labelling products reached 81.35 billion yuan accounting for 85.5% of similar product procurement. Meanwhile, all the primary and secondary schools textbooks used more than 1.3 billion China Environmental Labelling certified Green Printing.

China Environmental United Certification Center

China Environmental United Certification Center (CEC), approved by the former State Environmental Protection Administration (now Ministry of Ecology and Environment), is a comprehensive certification and service institution leading in environmental protection, energy-saving and low carbon areas. CEC has established a bridge between green production and consumption by offering independent, impartial, high-quality evaluation, certification, and consultation services for government, enterprises, and the public.

Business areas include: products certification, management systems certification, services certification, addressing climate change, energy-saving and energy efficiency certification, green supply chain assessment, environmental stewardship, green credit assessment and green manufacturing system evaluation. CEC also carries out national and industry standard establishment and participates in many national and international projects research, undertakes UNEP OPN co-lead of SPP program, GEN board member and IGPN secretariat duties.

CEC implemented and is the operator of the China Environmental Labelling program. CEC has also been carrying out mutual recognition cooperation with GEN members.

CEC has signed MOU through GENICES peer review and 13 bilateral cooperation agreements with ecolabel organizations in Germany, Nordic, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Ukraine, North America, Singapore and Kazakhstan.