To offer Nordic consumers a more sustainable and credible delivery option for their online purchases, the Nordic Swan Ecolabel has developed criteria for e-commerce logistics. This includes a focus on climate impact, energy efficiency and working conditions.
The requirements cover both line-haul and last mile, i.e. both the long-distance transports from the warehouse/terminal and deliveries to parcel agents, parcel boxes or home delivery. The system boundary is from the e-retailer’s warehouse or the logistics operator’s terminal and to the consumer, please see the FAQ.
Companies that can be license holders are transport companies transporting e-commerce goods, for example:
- Freight forwarders
- Post and morning newspaper distributors
- Tech companies
The requirements include:
- Limits for energy use in the transport network.
- Strict requirements for climate performance.
- A certain level of electric, hydrogen and biogas vehicles in the existing vehicle fleet – and increase of the proportion by new purchases.
- Incrementally increased use of renewable energy in the entire transport network.
- Ban on palm oil or its by-products (PFAD).
- Working conditions in line with national labour law standards.
- Volume-based pricing between retailer and transporter.
- More time to optimize the logistics system by limiting same-day deliveries.
The FAQ further down on this page gives more detailed information.
Welcome to apply for a Nordic Swan Ecolabel licence!
This is how you do:
- Read the application guide.
- Log in to the Nordic Ecolabelling Portal.
- Start your application.
If this is the first time you are applying, the authorized signatory must fill in your company information and approve the application conditions. In this way, you get login to the portal and the right to assign access to other colleagues.
Some special cases can not be done in the Nordic Ecolabelling Portal. Contact your advisor for such cases. More information can be found on Application step by step.
| Valid from 1/1 2026 | Amount excluding VAT |
| Application fee | |
| Application for a new licence | 3 348 EUR, but at least 1 699 EUR per product/brand. |
| Application for licence renewal | 1 699 EUR, but at least 849 EUR per product/brand. |
| More than 156.972 million EUR | 0.01% of the products’ turnover |
Licence fee is paid per country/company/brand and cannot be calculated for a group of companies.
| Up to 31.394 million EUR | 0.15% of the products’ turnover |
| 31.394–130.81 million EUR | 0.03% of the products’ turnover |
| More than 130.81 million EUR | 0.01% of the products’ turnover |
| Minimum fee | 2 267 EUR per year. |
Fee for extension / change of licence
Fixed fee that is charged depending on how long the work takes.
| Up to 4 hours | 424 EUR |
| 4-8 hours | 849 EUR |
| 8 or more hours | 1 699 EUR |
| Extension with new product/brand | 1 699 EUR |
Fee for on-site inspections
One on-site visit within the Nordic region is included in the application for a new or renewed licence.
| Additional on-site inspection within the Nordic region | 565 EUR per visit |
| On-site inspection outside the Nordic region, but within Europe | 1 699 EUR per visit |
| On-site inspection outside Europe | 2 834 EUR per visit |
| Additional fee for on-site inspections lasting longer than one day | 1 132 EUR per day |
About the fees
For clarification of fees, click here.
Ecolabelling Sweden AB has no financial profit purpose and is financed through the fees above along with an annual government grant. The company is however liable for VAT according to article 56 of the European Council Directive 2006/112/EC.
Invoicing is made in SEK with the exchange rate from the first banking day of the year.
When both the applicant and the manufacturer are micro-enterprises, the application fee is reduced by 50%. A micro-enterprise is in this context defined as an enterprise with less than 10 employees and an annual turnover (of both ecolabelled and not ecolabelled products) below 2 million EUR.
| Valid from 1/1 2025 | Amount excluding VAT |
| Application fee | |
| Application for a new licence | 3 348 EUR, but at least 1 673 EUR per product/brand. |
| Application for licence renewal | 1 673 EUR, but at least 836 EUR per product/brand. |
| More than 154.5 million EUR | 0.01% of the products’ turnover |
Licence fee is paid per country/company/brand and cannot be calculated for a group of companies.
| Up to 30.9 million EUR | 0.15% of the products’ turnover |
| 30.9–128.75 million EUR | 0.03% of the products’ turnover |
| More than 128.75 million EUR | 0.01% of the products’ turnover |
| Minimum fee | 2 232 EUR per year. |
Fee for extension / change of licence
Fixed fee that is charged depending on how long the work takes.
| Up to 4 hours | 418 EUR |
| 4-8 hours | 836 EUR |
| 8 or more hours | 1 673 EUR |
| Extension with new product/brand | 1 673 EUR |
Fee for on-site inspections
One on-site visit within the Nordic region is included in the application for a new or renewed licence.
| Additional on-site inspection within the Nordic region | 557 EUR per visit |
| On-site inspection outside the Nordic region, but within Europe | 1 673 EUR per visit |
| On-site inspection outside Europe | 2 790 EUR per visit |
| Additional fee for on-site inspections lasting longer than one day | 1 115 EUR per day |
About the fees
For clarification of fees, click here.
Ecolabelling Sweden AB has no financial profit purpose and is financed through the fees above along with an annual government grant. The company is however liable for VAT according to article 56 of the European Council Directive 2006/112/EC.
Invoicing is made in SEK with the exchange rate from the first banking day of the year.
When both the applicant and the manufacturer are micro-enterprises, the application fee is reduced by 50%. A micro-enterprise is in this context defined as an enterprise with less than 10 employees and an annual turnover (of both ecolabelled and not ecolabelled products) below 2 million EUR.
On January 27, 2026, Nordic Ecolabelling adjusted requirement O3, point 3, from 20% to 15% for Finland (same as for all other countries). The corresponding USP has also been updated. The requirement text in O3, O4 and O15 has been made clearer in relation to what applies to the applicant and the applicant’s subcontractors. At the same time, a clarification of O19, regarding annual reporting, was decided. The STEP calculation tool was updated with the emission factor for Nordic Swan Ecolabelled Preem Redefine HVO100. Finally, the validity period of the criteria has been extended to 30 September 2028. The new version is 1.4.
1.2 ⇛ 1.3 Adjustment of criteria
On January 21, 2025, Nordic Ecolabelling adjusted requirement O6. An exception was introduced, stipulating that if the average volumetric weight of consignments is less than 1.5 kg, a maximum limit of 1 kWh per consignment will apply. The new version is 1.3.
1.1 ⇛ 1.2 Adjustment of criteria
The section “What can carry the Nordic Swan Ecolabel” has been adjusted as well as the requirements O1, O7 and O18. There is a minor change in Appendix 1.
1.0 ⇛ 1.1 Adjustment of criteria
Several adjustments have been made:
- Requirement O3 and O4: the least hired subcontractors, which in total amount to a maximum of 20% of the cost of all purchased transports may be exempted from the requirement O4, and from point c, d and e in requirement O3.
- Requirement O9: a limit was introduced which means that 95% (instead of 100%) of the biodiesel volume must be documented free of feedstocks with a high iLUC risk
- Requirement O10: The requirement for follow-up of subcontractors was harmonized with requirement O13
- Requirement O15: the license holder’s requirements on subcontractors only apply to points 3, 4 and 5 (not points 1 and 2).
The new version is called 1.1 and valid until 31 march 2027.
1.0: New product group
Nordic Ecolabelling adopted version 1.0 of the criteria for 111 E-commerce logistics on 7 March 2023.
The criteria is valid until 31 March 2027.