Summary

The current sustainability labelling landscape has been accused of creating unnecessary consumer confusion due to too much, too complex, too similar, and too ambiguous information. Meta-sustainability labelling is proposed as a solution. This study looks at the added value of this instrument based on a survey in the USA (N = 518) and Germany (N = 520). Participants were randomly allocated to one of four different conditions: (1) traditional labelling, (2) new, common label design, (3) traditional labelling plus meta label, and (4) new, common label design plus meta label. The study confirms the preference for sustainability-labelled products in both countries. This study also finds that in the USA, the new, common label design outperforms traditional labelling. Adding a meta-label reduced the effect. In Germany, both the common labelling design and the meta-label improved the effectiveness of sustainability labelling for some consumer segments.