Location: Zollverein, Essen, Germany

Date: September 28, 2009; 2-5pm

Host: Center for Sustainable Consumption and Production (UNEP/Wuppertal Institute) at the Conference: The Future of Sustainable Products and Services

This workshop discussed initiatives that seek to harmonise, connect and gather sustainability information on the web in relation to Web 2.0 technologies and the problems of information overload and Greenwashing. 

Big Room’s proposal for a new sustainability focused web addresses with the “dot eco” designation - e.g. www.essen.eco – was presented as a case study. Participants had the opportunity to provide input and feedback on the creation of dot eco at a critical juncture in its development. Questions deliberated upon in breakout groups included:

1.  What would be the best use of dot eco?

What would make people want to link their brands to dot eco?

What existing standards codes and protocols should be recognized?

What ways could eco-profiles enable sustainable consumption?

How might dot eco help solve the problem of information overload?

Who might use the information in an eco-profile, and why? 

2. Imagine you had a dot eco website. What would you use it for?