Transcript Document
Pascal Gréverath, Nestlé, Chairman CIAA Environment Committee European Economic and Social Committee Public Hearing – SCP & SIP Action Plan 10 December 2008 Our roadmap on sustainable production and consumption: Delivering continuous environmental improvement across the food chain 3 We, food producers, deliver real sustainability improvements together with our business partners – We work with farmers on sustainable agricultural practices worldwide – We are acting as bio-refineries, transforming agricultural raw materials into a series of products and by-products, thereby preventing waste – We reduce waste going to landfill by recovering embedded resources – We cut GHG emissions in our factories by increasing energy-efficiency and using more renewable energy sources (including bio-gas from our own residues) – We reduce water consumption per tonne of production – We optimise packaging solutions by cutting material and weight – We set up and finance successful packaging recovery schemes across the EU – We improve transport efficiency together with supply chain partners – We communicate with consumers on all relevant product characteristics Take a closer look at: http://envi.ciaa.eu 5 The two elements of sustainable food consumption 6 1. HOW we consume: Direct environmental impacts • Transport (e.g. shopping by car) • Food storage (refrigeration) • Food preparation (cooking, dishwashing, etc) • Waste generation and disposal / recovery Education and support: Help consumers to cut energy and water use, reduce food waste and sort used packaging for recovery 2. WHAT we consume: Indirect environmental impacts • Through consumers´ purchasing decisions Reliable environmental product information Getting environmental product information right Voluntary environmental information to consumers can be an effective tool to support sustainable consumption if it is: 7 scientifically reliable based on uniform environmental assessment methodologies across the EU in line with international standards covering the most significant impacts along the life-cycle relevant and understandable for the consumer avoiding disproportionate financial or administrative burden safeguarding innovation and the Internal Market using the most appropriate communication tools Status quo: Practicable methodologies to assess environmental performance of food are still missing – Today: no uniformly applied product assessment methodology for food, apart from conducting standardised LCAs, which are too complex and too expensive for daily industrial practice – High diversity of food and drinks, different environmental impacts at different stages of the life-cycle (e.g. sugar vs. milk) – Specificities in terms of health and nutrition must be considered – Proliferation of competing schemes developed by various actors in different countries within the EU (public authorities, retailers, producers) – Different schemes assessing different impacts with different methodologies (carbon footprint, food miles, CO2 content of packaging, recyclability, air-freight, etc) 8 Flourishing Member State activities on „green“ information – UK: Specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services (PAS 2050:2008) published by BSI. – France: Legal requirement to have environmental indications on products as of 2011; General principles for an environmental communication on mass market products (BP X30-323) published by AFNOR; Methodological guides per product category, including food and drinks. – Belgium: The authorities of the Region of Brussels are assessing the feasibility of a carbon footprint label for food. – Sweden: Climate labelling scheme for food has been launched with Government support. – Germany: Project on CO2 labelling involving WWF Deutschland, ÖkoInstitut, Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung und Thema1. – … 9 Retail example UK: TESCO – towards carbon labels on all products – Announcement in 2007 to put carbon footprint labels on all products (70,000 in total) – Labels based on BSI methodology (“PAS 2050”) – In addition, air-freight labels on products flown in 10 Retail example - France: Casino´s environmental label Trafic light system based on 3 indicators: 1. CO2 content of packaging 2. Recyclability (with and without waste separation) 3. Transport distance (km) 11 Retail example - France: E.Leclerc Price in € + Price in CO2 As of April 2008: • Scope: all food products • CO2 footprint only • Along the entire life-cycle • Average French value per product category • Ignoring efforts made by manufacturers or consumers to improve performance 12 Environment Council asks Commission to work on carbon footprint methodologies • Environment Council Conclusions on SCP / SIP Action Plan (adopted on 4 December 2008) (10) INVITES the European Commission to study the introduction of the carbon footprint of products in the existing EU environmental labelling instruments such as the Eco-label and energy labelling; also INVITES the Commission, taking into account Member States' experience, to start working as soon as possible on common voluntary methodologies facilitating the future establishment of carbon audits for organisations and the calculation of the carbon footprint of products; 13 Sustainable consumption? 14 CIAA calls for environmental food information to be based on reliable and uniform methodologies • Science-based and EU-wide approach required to ensure confidence of consumers in the reliability of provided information and avoid : – Accusations of “green wash” – Consumer confusion due to proliferation of schemes and labels – Unnecessary complexity, high costs for industry (SMEs) – Fragmentation of the market • Must be developed in a multi-stakeholder process to be effective 15 Draft CIAA principles for the voluntary assessment of food and drink products and environmental communication to consumers The lead principle: Information should be accurate, verifiable, relevant, understandable and not misleading I. Principles for the voluntary environmental assessment of products Principle 1: Principle 2: Principle 3: Principle 4: Assess the most significant life-cycle stage(s) from farm to fork Assess the most significant environmental impact(s) Maintain the environmental assessment updated Apply recognised and uniform scientific methodologies at EU level II. Principles for the voluntary communication of environmental information Principle 6: Principle 7: Principle 8: Principle 9: Principle 10: 16 Provide factual information to support individual choice Use the most suitable means of communication Provide easily understandable information Ensure clarity regarding the scope of information Ensure transparency of information and underlying methodologies III. Generic principles for assessment & communication Principle 11: Grant open access to all companies (including SMEs) Principle 12: Support innovation Principle 13: Safeguard the Internal Market and international trade CIAA next steps: from principles to methodologies – Fine-tuning the principles with supply chain partners with a view to arriving at common food chain principles on environmental communication – CIAA will then work on concrete methodologies to assess how these principles can be implemented – Assessment of the practical implications of various approaches (cost-benefit analysis): • Financial and administrative burden • Impact on SMEs, innovation and international trade • Relevance for consumers • Contribution to environmental improvement – Format for further work: Food Chain SCP Roundtable 17 Revision of the EU eco-label scheme Initial objective of EU eco-label (preamble): « To promote products with a reduced environmental impact during their entire life cycle and to provide consumers with accurate, non-deceptive and scientifically based information on the environmental impact of products. » Main characteristics today: Scope: Food, pharmaceuticals and medical devices excluded Eco-label criteria exist for 26 products groups Represents a very small fraction of the EU market (1 € billion/year) Not a successful tool: • Low uptake by industry • Low awareness by consumers Commission intends to improve this situation > revision 2008 Eco-label revision and food and drink products 1992: Eco-label scheme established: food excluded 2000: First revision: Food remains excluded 2008: Proposal for revised eco-label scheme: • Article 2 (scope) Concerning food products as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, it shall only apply to processed food and to the products of fishing and aquaculture. • Article 7 (Ecolabel criteria) & Article 9 (registration for use of the Ecolabel) Environmental criteria for processed food shall relate only to processing, transport or packaging phases CIAA position on eco-label revision - EC proposal contradicts life-cycle principle. - EC proposal not based on scientific evidence. Would lead to incomplete assessments and misleading information to consumers - EC proposal draws arbitrary distinction between food products - Specificities of food in terms of health and nutrition not taken into account. Too simplistic communication tool for food. - CIAA calls for maintaining the exclusion of food from the scope of the eco-label regulation - Development of reliable EU-wide methodologies for the assessment of the environmental performance of food and drink products; Identification of suitable communication tools taking into account the specificities of food in terms of health and nutrition; - CIAA promotes establishment of multi-stakeholder process (Food Chain SCP Roundtable, see next slide) Towards a Food Chain SCP Roundtable Rationale: The whole food chain must cooperate to effectively drive SCP Its expertise must be pooled to develop integrated solutions Mandate: 1. Promote reliable & uniform assessment methodologies for food and drinks 2. Identify suitable communication tools vis-à-vis consumers 3. Identify and implement continuous improvement measures along the food chain Participants: Farmers and farm related Food and drink manufacturers Packaging producers Retailers Consumers & NGOs EU and national policy makers Scientific experts Thank you for your attention ! http://envi.ciaa.eu 22