Socioeconomic determinants of awareness of energy labels and their influence on purchase decisions in the EU

This paper examines the determinants of individuals’ awareness of EU Energy Labels and the extent to which these labels influence their purchase decisions for electric appliances. The analysis is based on Eurobarometer survey data from 27,438 individuals across 28 EU Member States in 2019. Specifically, we explore the role of socioeconomic characteristics such as age, gender, education, financial stability, and political engagement. Our findings indicate that individual characteristics have a stronger effect on the influence of labels on purchase decisions than on label awareness. However, significant heterogeneity across countries persists, even after controlling for individual characteristics. Using our model, we perform three exercises in which we assume a policymaker can either increase label awareness among all unaware individuals or target specific demographic groups. We demonstrate the resulting impact on the share of individuals whose purchase decisions are influenced by the labels. The results reveal that, even when label awareness is at its highest level, it does not necessarily lead to substantially greater influence on purchasing decisions in certain countries.