Building The Single Market for Green Products Dr. Alberto Parenti European Commission, DG Environment, Eco-Innovation and Circular Economy Unit

The Problem More than 400 environmental labels in the world Only for GHGs, 80 leading reporting methods and initiatives Issues: What is green? How do I prove that my product or company is green? Do I have to prove I'm green in different ways to different clients/authorities? Will consumers and business partners understand my claim? Consumer confusion & mistrust Greenwashing - Free-riders win Unnecessary Costs for Business 2 2

The Proliferation A world of "similar but different" criteria for green products: Is that good for Trade? Swedish EPD PAS 2050 BP X30-323 Swiss footprint IT carbon footprint Carbon schemes in Japan, South Korea, Taipei, Thailand

The Single Market for Green Products package: The Response The Single Market for Green Products package: Proposes a set of actions to improve the availability of clear, reliable and comparable information on the environmental performance of products and organisations: it establishes two methods to measure environmental performance, the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and the Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF) (see next slide); it recommends their use to Member States, companies, private organisations and the financial community through a Commission Recommendation; it announces a 3-year testing period to develop product- and sector-specific rules related to PEF/OEF through a multi-stakeholder process; it provides principles for communicating environmental performance, such as transparency, reliability, completeness, comparability and clarity; it supports international efforts towards more coordination in methodological development and data availability

The PEF and OEF methods: Build on existing EU and non-EU methods (see next slide) Developed through a transparent and open consultation process with the involvement of EU and non-EU stakeholders Applicable without having to consult a series of other documents (“one-stop shop”) Provide comprehensive evaluation along the entire life cycle (from raw materials to end of life / waste management) Provide comprehensive coverage of all potential environmental impacts (no ‘single issue’ method) Enable comparability of results, e.g. of different products (but only if PEFCRs/OEFSRs are available) Methods analysed Products ISO 14044 (2006) ISO 14067 (Nov 2010d) ILCD (2010) BP X 30 (2009) PAS 2050 (2008, Nov 2010d, Jan 2011d) Ecological footprint (2009) WBCSD/WRI (product: Nov 2010) Organisations ISO 14064 (2006) Bilan Carbone DEFRA guide (GHG) CDP Water footprint WBCSD/WRI (corporate: Nov 2010) GRI Main differences to similar methods a limitation of methodological flexibility, more stringent requirements related to data quality, and the introduction of normalization and weighting

How PEF/OEF were developed Environmental assessment documents analysed: ISO 14044 ISO 14067 BP X 30-323 PAS 2050 Ecological footprint ILCD Product Standards, Greenhouse Gas Protocol (WRI/ WBCSD)

Principles on communicating environmental performance Not prescriptive, not preferred vehicle. Transparency on how the info is generated Availability & Accessibility: key info in simple format plus additional info easily retrievable Reliability: science-based and verifiable info Completeness: info on most relevant impacts in a cost-effective way Comparability: consistency in methodological choices to ensure comparability in same category/sector over time Clarity: clear, precise and understandable info The use of PEF and OEF would ensure compliance with such principles

It is a voluntary, transparent and non-discriminatory initiative! Trade aspects The widespread use of PEF/OEF would: Reduce the need for EU and third country operators to apply multiple criteria from different schemes in the EU. This would lessen administrative costs. Provide a "quality assurance" for schemes and labels helping to ensure that they are based on solid science, comprehensive and non-discriminatory. Create new market opportunities for genuinely green products and organisations by reducing consumers' mistrust and stimulating demand It is a voluntary, transparent and non-discriminatory initiative!

International cooperation Inter-governmental dialogue on life-cycle assessment (LCA) to bring coherence in LCA approaches, increase data availability and quality worldwide. EU provides financial support to UNEP for capacity building activities in developing countries and emerging economies on environmental footprint, life cycle assessment methods and data gathering.

For any further information Thank you ! Any questions For any further information http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/smgp/ env-environmental-footprint@ec.europa.eu 10 10