In theory, eco-labels have great potential to reduce the environmental and social impact of products via consumer choice. In practice, the diffusion of eco-labels remains limited, with consumers expressing concerns about their value. One problem is a perceived tradeoff between the eco-label sustainable attributes and the quality of the product. In this paper, we examine whether this tradeoff is also perceived by product experts. Using the case of wine, we test the impact eco-labels have on experts' ratings of product quality. We use information about the quality of French wines from three major experts' guides, with information on third-party organic and biodynamic certified eco-labels, as well as self-declared eco-labels without third-party certification. Our findings, based on 128,182 wines, suggest that the third-party certified organic and biodynamic labels lead to improved ratings (+6.2 and + 5.6 percentage points respectively) as compared to conventional wines. These findings indicate that experts have a different appreciation of the quality of eco-certified wines than some consumers. However, self-declared eco-labels that include non-certified sustainable practices, received similar ratings to conventional wines in the best-case scenario. This indicates that non-certified sustainable practices can be associated with greenwashing and endanger the perceived value of eco-labels more generally.

从理论上讲，生态标签具有巨大的潜力，可以通过消费者选择来减少产品对环境和社会的影响。在实践中，生态标签的传播仍然受到限制，因为消费者对其价值表示担忧。一个问题是在生态标签的可持续属性和产品质量之间的权衡。在本文中，我们研究了产品专家是否也意识到了这种折衷。以葡萄酒为例，我们测试了生态标签对专家对产品质量评级的影响。我们使用来自三大专家指南的有关法国葡萄酒质量的信息，以及有关第三方有机和生物动力认证的生态标签以及未经第三方认证的自我声明的生态标签的信息。我们的调查结果基于128,182种葡萄酒，建议第三方认证的有机和生物动力标签与传统葡萄酒相比可提高评级（分别为+6.2和+ 5.6个百分点）。这些发现表明，专家对生态认证葡萄酒质量的评价与某些消费者不同。但是，在最理想的情况下，自我声明的生态标签（包括未经认证的可持续做法）获得了与传统葡萄酒相似的评级。这表明未经认证的可持续做法可能与绿色清洗相关联，并且更普遍地危害生态标签的感知价值。这些发现表明，专家对生态认证葡萄酒质量的评价与某些消费者不同。但是，在最理想的情况下，自我声明的生态标签（包括未经认证的可持续做法）获得了与传统葡萄酒相似的评级。这表明未经认证的可持续做法可能与绿色清洗相关联，并且更普遍地危害生态标签的感知价值。这些发现表明，专家对生态认证葡萄酒质量的评价与某些消费者不同。但是，在最理想的情况下，自我声明的生态标签（包括未经认证的可持续做法）获得的评价与传统葡萄酒相似。这表明未经认证的可持续做法可能与绿色清洗相关联，并且更普遍地危害生态标签的感知价值。