Casually, time is running out. The government intends to provide the food and textile sectors withan environmental display by January 1, 2024. Clearly: an Eco-score, that is to say a note like the Nutri-Score, will be affixed to the products to inform consumers about the environmental impacts linked to their manufacturing.
How will this environmental score be calculated? And how will it be returned to consumers? A mark out of 100, letters from A to E, colors, the combination of the three? “These points are not yet fixed”, indicates Berangere Couillard, Secretary of State for Ecology. But the consultations are progressing, she assures, saying she is confident about the ability to arrive at a display, in the two sectors concerned, which will achieve consensus on January 1st. She responds to 20 minutes.
Why is environmental labeling so important?
It is a key tool in the dynamic that we want to initiate to change the model in our consumption patterns. Take the textile. The French renew their clothes twice as much as they did twenty years ago. If we continue on this dynamic, this clothing sector could represent a quarter of our greenhouse gas emissions in 2050. We need to change the paradigm, get out of all disposable and fast fashion to move towards more virtuous. In this sense, environmental labeling has a crucial role to play, even more so in textiles where there are quite a few labels and where we do not always imagine the environmental impacts of our clothes. The manufacture of jeans, for example, requires an equivalent water consumption at 285 showers. Environmental labeling will allow this awareness to be raised and I am certain that it will push some consumers towards more sustainable purchases. A recent survey confirms this idea: a third of French people are ready to do so if they are given the right information.
In the food industry, there is already the Eco-Score and the Planet-Score, environmental displays launched on a large scale by groups of actors. In November, thirteen textile players pledged to launch their own by the end of 2023… Confirm that there will be, ultimatelyonly one official posting?
Yes, the goal is to achieve that the textile and agri-food sectors each have a unique method of environmental labeling. And it will be mandatory on all the products concerned, on January 1, 2024. Environmental labeling only makes sense if the method for calculating environmental scores is the same for each product and is as transparent as possible. Otherwise, we lose the consumer and we lose credibility.
Where are we in the development of this official display?
We are currently conducting consultations with all stakeholders. NGOs, consumer associations, producer representatives… On textiles, I brought together all the players in the sector in October. Since the beginning of February and until March 10, they are asked to answer a questionnaire in which they will be able to express their expectations. We will take stock of them, then we will receive them all again, mid-March to build this display. The process is the same in food. In both cases, the objective is to decide on a method for calculating and returning scores by this summer. Of course, we can still discuss the solutions adopted but we will have to be ready to deploy them. next January 1.
The environmental impacts of our food and textile products are not limited to greenhouse gases. Synthesizing them into a single overall score isn’t that mission impossible?
It’s true, it’s complex. The label affixed to the products must be as simple and visible as possible. This is a first issue but not the most complicated. The most difficult thing will be to agree on the right calculation method, the one that will find the right balance between all the environmental issues: greenhouse gases, water consumption, use of pesticides, well-being animal, the origin of the products, their recyclability… In textiles, some players are pushing for example to promote “made in France”. In fact, it will be. Jeans that are 100% made in France should logically have a better rating than another product in Asia, since they will have generated fewer greenhouse gas emissions related to their transport and the conditions for using pesticides are stricter here. However, we will be careful that the origin does not not overshadow all the other issues. Because being made in France does not always guarantee virtuous production methods. And then, even at home, jeans require a significant consumption of water. However, the purpose of environmental labeling is precisely to make us aware of them and to encourage us to renew less often. There will be other challenges of the same style for food.
How to convince the actors who have launched their environmental labeling or are preparing to do so, to switch to the official method?
These initiatives are very positive. All the experiments, the ideas and the lightings are good to take to build the future French environmental display. And then, these projects allow the companies that carry them to anticipate things. They will only have to change their display to resume the one that will be adopted on January 1st. I am convinced that we will manage to find a mode of display that will create consensus. The discussions are going well: many players show their desire to participate, to give their opinions and even to experiment. This proves that we are going in the right direction with this display project and that professionals are aware of the strong expectations of the consumer.