# Drivers, Barriers and Benefits of the EU Ecolabel in European Companies' Perception
## EU Ecolabel Drivers, Benefits and Barriers: Evidence from the EU Ecolabel Evaluation Survey  
As seen in the previous section, the existing literature provides limited updated analysis on companies' attitude towards the EU Ecolabel, with few distinctions between SMEs and Larger companies and/or without taking into account those companies that have not decided to apply for the EU Ecolabel. This section intends to close this research gap and deliver an empirically informed representation of:* what are companies' drivers for the EU Ecolabel. Factors that bring companies to use the EU Ecolabel in order to take advantage of expected potential paybacks;
* what are companies' benefits of the EU Ecolabel. Direct paybacks that companies obtained as a result of having their products or services awarded with the EU Ecolabel and if they are in line with the motivations that pushed them to start the process of implementation;
* what are companies' perceived barrier for the EU Ecolabel. Administrative, procedural and economic factors that prevent a greater uptake by companies. These research questions have been investigated by means of a EU-wide survey developed for stakeholders' consultation within the 2014/2015 EU Ecolabel Evaluation study (\"Study to Support the Evaluation and Implementation of the EU Ecolabel Regulation\") carried out for the European Commission by Ricardo-AEA and IEFE-Bocconi University. The survey, developed in close consultation with the DG Environment, explored these aspects through the experiences of the EU Ecolabel Licence holders, both SMEs and Larger companies, who are obviously directly involved with the EU Ecolabelling scheme and can provide useful considerations and insights drawn from their experience. However, when possible and to a more limited extent, it also sought input from Non-Licence holders, companies that had been awarded the EU Ecolabel but that decided to give it up or companies that have considered applying for the EU Ecolabel but have renounced it because of barriers for uptake. This latter category was expected to provide useful information and insights into the drivers that could trigger a Non-Licence holder's decision to apply for the EU Ecolabel, as well as the barriers that they perceive. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that a much more limited number of Non Licence holders have responded to the survey if compared to the number of companies bearing the EU Ecolabel. As for the survey questions, these were posed either as yes/no questions (questions on the drivers and benefits) or asked whether the respondent agreed or disagreed with a range of statements (question on the barriers; range: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree). Within the analysis performed throughout the work, \"strongly disagree\" corresponds to a numerical score of 1, while \"strongly agree\" corresponds to a numerical score of 5. Furthermore, throughout the questionnaire, respondents were given the opportunity to provide detailed text comments about the aspects of the EU Ecolabel under consideration, and these have been drawn upon to inform the insights identified. However, interviews via telephone or face to face were carried out in order to get further insights and understanding of survey responses. In order to publicize the survey as much as possible, and draw the widest audience into it, the survey was publicized through the project website, through blogs and announcements on the project team's websites, and through trade press announcements. A link from the front page of the Commission's EU Ecolabel page to it was also provided. A total of 126 companies fully completed the online questionnaire:  
* 106 EU Ecolabel Licence holders (of a wide range of product groups), of which 59 were SMEs;
* 20 Non Licence holders, of which eight were SMEs. Figures 3 and 4 below provide information about the country of origin of the respondents and the EU Ecolabel product category/economic sector. Figure 4: EU Ecolabel product/service group category of the survey respondents.