Product environmental policy in France: current developments Sylvain Chevassus French Sustainable Development Ministry

Transcription

1 ISO/TC 207 public workshop Towards low carbon societies Need for efficient tools Product environmental policy in France: current developments Sylvain Chevassus French Sustainable Development Ministry Commissariat Général au Développement durable

2 The origin of the French approach : the «Grenelle de l environnement» A concertation of an unprecedented scale in France in the envionmental field A new 5 actors governance (unions, elected representatives, env. NGOs, employers, State) Acceleration and amplification of «classic» programmes : buildings, energy, transport, The development of new shared issues. Ex: consumption; make the supply of green products : more visible (environmental information) more credible (advertising) more accessible (bonus malus)

3 Sustainable consumption and production Act on supply and demand! Tool mix: voluntary, regulatory, incentives LCA product policy: Ecolabels, ecodesign, green public procurement Environmental product information display: Direct objective, medium term : consumers Indirect objective, short term : producers Initiatives in many countries some French specificities : multicriteria, and regulatory perspective

4 Environmental product information: context and objectives 1. Legal basis (Grenelle I and II laws) to have environmental indicators on products, on the basis of the results of a national experimentation starting from 1 July Allow the consumer to use the information concerning the environmental impacts of a product throughout its life cycle as a choice criterion (purchase) 3. Allow comparison of products belonging to the same category 4. Ensure comparability of the information 5. Harmonise environmental communication practices. 4

5 ADEME / AFNOR platform General platform Methodological working group Sector working groups (product categories) Communication format working group Database governance committee

6 BP X : main principles and general calculation methodology 1. LCA approach (ISO and ISO 14044) and life cycle thinking 2. Multicriteria 3. Product and packaging 4. Carbon footprint is required whatever the category 5. Indicators are the same within a category (same functional unit) 6. Limited number of indicators per category 7. Harmonised communication format 8. Public secondary database 6

7 BP X : main principles and general calculation methodology General methodological frame for the quantification of environmental impacts of mass market products Recommendations on key methodological issues (end of life, carbon storage, allocations, cut-off criteria ) Schedule 1. July 2009 : adoption of the general methodology 2. July 2010: adoption of first PCR 3. January 2011 : first revision of BP X adopted 4. This methodological annex is available in English. 26/3/2009 7

8 BP X general quantification methodology tests tested through pilot projects will be further tested through national experimentation

9 BP X general quantification methodology relations with other international methodologies looked at PAS 2050 will be adjusted to ISO and to EU methodological guide no major differences with GHG Protocol the harmonisation of horizontal methodologies should not be problematic; harmonisation of PCRs needs to be adressed

10 o Sector working groups 1. Food and pet food 2. Electric and electronic equipment 3. Cleaning products, products for garden 4. Body care 5. Clothes, textile, shoes, bags 6. Products for buildings, paintings 7. Furniture 8. Cultural products, stationery products 9. Tableware, crockery, cooking products 10. Sport equipment, camping material, games 11. Non electric equipment, ironmongery 10

11 Sector working groups Define product category rules 1. Categories 2. Functional unit 3. Environmental indicators 4. Impact calculation methods 5. End of life / co-products 6. Primary Data / Secondary Data 7. Validity of data

12 Database 1. The public generic database will be free to access and available on the internet 2. The public database (format: ILCD) will include the data from the ELCD community database 3. Planned schedule: in construction, data feeding starting now

13 Voluntary initiatives already on the market!

14 Now: going multicriteria!

15 : further work National experimentation ( ) Voluntary ; Evaluation + communication 230 applicants from all sectors 168 selected; projects to start 1 July Methods and tools 1. Product category rules (first ones adopted : shoes, furniture, rucksacks, shampoos, sofas, rackets, toilet paper, TV, bedding; to come: clothes, detergents, stationery etc.) 2. Database 3. On-line calculation tool

16 o National experimentation Evaluation + communication To be tested: communication, costs, methods, data,etc and also the issue of imported products several foreign participants: Agricom (Chile), Bogota Chamber of Commerce (Colombia), H&M (Sweden) many French branches of multinationals: Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Colgate-Palmolive, Heineken, Levi Strauss, Procter and Gamble, Unilever, J&J, Henkel etc.. Evaluation and report to Parliament

17 o Company type 230 applicants from all sectors 168 selected; projects to start 1 July

18 o Product types

19 Implications for actors Main principles : life-cycle approach and multicriteria (carbon + main env. impacts) but no mandatory product life-cycle analysis (LCA) : the producer will «just» have to supply some product characteristics data for a product put on the French market (produced in France or imported) The implementation will be progressive Free, bilingual and simplified tools, as well as a generic database will be available

20 International dimension, standardisation, free trade WTO and EU rules are taken into account in the reflexion and any measure will be duly notified to EU and WTO There will be no product interdiction; «just» some information to be given to consumers Our policy seeks to discriminate products on their env. impact, not their origin!! France active in European and international harmonisation and standardisation works

21 Thank you for your attention! Sylvain Chevassus tel: sylvain.chevassus@developpementdurable.gouv.fr