Justmeans has published an article with background summaries on several major North American ecolabels. They highlight Energy Star and USDA Organic and also note Forest Stewardship Council, LEED, Cradle to Cradle, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, and Marine Stewardship Council.

A rationale for distinguishing those labels from others based on specific criteria is not provided, though it is identified as being important to make decisions about ecolabels based on the strength of the standard associated with the ecolabel.

A challenge is that establishing the relative and absolute strength of a standard depends on a number of factors, including the availability of the standard (and the form it is available in) as well as how compliance and impacts are monitored.

We view the ISEAL Impacts Code as the most interesting effort to resolve this issue and encourage interested parties to follow and engage with the effort directly. More information is available here.