"Recognition of the Swan is a major accolade for Nordic co-operation. The environment and sustainable development are right at the top of the Nordic agenda, and we continually strive to make a difference in day-to-day life. We are, of course, delighted that our endeavours have now been recognised as top global and European quality," commented Halldór Ásgrímsson, the Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

A company called Environmental Resources Management was commissioned by the UK Ministry of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to analyse standards and methods used by environmental labels all over the world and identify the ones that provide the best guarantee of sustainability in production.

A total of 207 standards and product lists were evaluated and four labels selected as world leaders: the Nordic Council of Ministers' "Swan", Germany's "Blue Angel", New Zealand's "Environmental Choice" and the EU’s "Flower".

According to the citation, 'the Swan' is "perhaps the best-known environmental label in Europe: 67 % of people in the Nordic countries recognise and understand the purpose of the label and it has become increasingly used outside of northern Europe. The cross-stakeholder nature of the criteria development with close co-operation and technical input from industry has ensured a high level of ‘buy in’ from consumers, policy-makers, business and NGOs.”

The Swan was deemed to be the best in three out of seven categories: transport, health and paper products.

''The Swan is an example of innovation based on Nordic values such as respect for nature and trust between stakeholders in our societies," said Tryggvi Felixson, the head of the Nordic Council of Ministers' Environment Secretariat. "Aiming for the highest possible level of ambition is a guiding principle in Nordic co-operation, and it would clearly benefit the global environment if the Swan was widely used in the major and emerging economies."

Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have worked on The Swan from the beginning. Denmark joined in 1998.

Nordic eco-labeling now has a budget of over DKK 60 million and some 70 people are employed to administer the scheme in the individual countries. 60% of the funding comes from licenses and application fees.

In the period 1995-1997, the annual subsidy from the Council of Ministers was DKK 900,000, which was raised to DKK 2 million in 1998. In 2008, the Council of Ministers earmarked DKK 2,376,000 for the scheme.

The Council of Ministers has adopted joint guidelines for eco-labeling schemes. Rules and other administrative decisions are taken by the Nordic Ecolabelling Board, which ensures that work on The Swan is done according to the same practices in all of the participating countries. Producers who would like a Swan label must apply to the respective countries' environmental labelling secretariat, but the actual licensing scheme and criteria are decided collectively by the Nordic countries.