Ministère de l'Écologie, du Développement durable et de l’Énergie Crédit photo : Arnaud Bouissou/MEDDE Environmental sustainability in the food chain: last developments in France and European perspectives Florence Scarsi French Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 I. The French scheme « affichage environnemental »: quick recap II. Technical developments (methodologies and data) in the food sector III. Learning from the French experimentation led in and perspectives IV. French project and European perspectives Presentation outline

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 Consumers ask the display of environmental information on products Need to preserve ecosystems Many initiatives leading to confusion => A harmonized scheme to act on demand and supply Main principles:  Life cycle approach  Multicriteria approach (C footprint + other significant impacts of the product) I) The French scheme: quick recap (1/2)

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013  Legislative basis: 2 “Grenelle” laws: set targets and ensure implementation  A multi-stakeholders’ platform: methodological expertise and guides, normalization, cost-sharing  A public generic database available on- line  National experimentation: feasibility, coordination of business, learning  Sharing methodological developments at the European level... and beyond: convergence, harmonization I) The French scheme: quick recap (2/2)

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 II) Technical developments (1/3): the French food and pet food repository  Adopted in April, 2012  Functional unit: per 100 mg or ml, or portion  3 main issues and related indicators: Consensus-based adopted rules, conventions Sub-sectorial developments: PCRs adopted for dairy products and coffee + on-going work for others sub-sectors (e.g. vegetal oils) Climate GHG emissons Water Water use Eutrophication Eco-toxicity Biodiversity ?

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 II) Technical developments (2/3): food data On French agricultural productions, AGRIBALYSE:  137 LCI (ILCD format) available since October, 2013:  3 years program led by ADEME, INRA, ART and French agricultural technical institutes On food processing: new project ACYVIA ( ) led by ADEME, Quantis, ART and French technical institutes (French scope) Participation of ADEME to WFLDB (World Food Life Cycle DataBase) with Quantis, ART and companies  Technical scope: agriculture & food processing  International scope: complementary to AGRIBALYSE and ACYVIA => need more LCI/LCA at EU and international levels

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 II) Technical developments(3/3): proposed indicators Climate change Water (quantity, quality) Biodiversity Biodiversity, an indicator based on landscape features:  Strong link between biodiversity and farming  Already used in existing agricultural policies (e.g. CAP)  Access to the data  Fair approximation of biodiversity, including loss or impacts but also positive contribution to biodiversity  ADEME-AFNOR platform = (will be) in line with PEF  Carbon (de)-sequestration ? Specific study

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 III) Learning from the experiment (1/3) principles of the experiment, recap

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 Interest for the scheme is confirmed:  Success, Feasibility: 90% of participants went to the end of the experiment, 75% want to continue  Call for display of environmental information by consumers  Source of environmental performance, competitivity, innovation, dialogue  Capacity building and boosting expertise Need to keep working:  LCA : standardized, quantified, multiple issues  Multi-criteria  European scale III) Learning from the experiment (2/3)

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 Generalization is possible under conditions:  Technical support (harmonized methodologies, free database, calculation tools)  Cost control (database)  Reliability of information given (methodologies, controls and certification scheme)  Harmonization of formats  Training, education and information on the scheme  a progressive approach, voluntary as a first step, to be discussed with stakeholders (several options) New ! Government report sent to the French Parliament: page=article&id_article=35652 III) Learning from the experiment (3/3)

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 Perspectives on European Commission PEF  France very much welcome of Product Environmental Footprint guide (PEF) and Single Market for Green Products package  Welcome too of ENVIFOOD Protocol and Food SCP Round Table initiative  BPX (and PCRs in France): an operational document for specific objectives...  …coherent with PEF and ENVIFOOD P.  current revision process of BPX seeks to promote further alignment to PEF  policy: will seek to articulate with EU calendar and developments whenever possible and relevant

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 Please visit us: English page: AFNOR and platform ADEME-AFNOR websites (BPX , PCR): pcr/liste-des-referentiels-sectoriels

Food SCP Round Table’s plenary meeting November 20, 2013 Thank you for your attention!