1 Méditerranean Commission on Sustainable Développement Commissariat Général au Développement durable Bernard Brillet, CGEDD French Sustainable Development Ministry French policy on sustainable consumption and production SCP

2 The change in consumer behaviour has started…even though it will take time.  world poll (14 countries) National Geographic 2008: 74% of Brazilians, 62% of Indians “very concerned” or “concerned” by environmental issues (USA, FR: 55%)  EU poll 2009: 72% in favour of mandatory carbon labelling ( persons from 28 countries)  Ethicity / ADEME poll (April 2010; 1000 persons in France): 74% of consumers would like to have information about the environmental impacts of the products they buy Further than mere declarations, more and more concrete acts : ex : in France, doubling of organic products consumption in last 3 years. Consumers’ expectations

3  A concertation of an unprecedented scale in France in the environmental field  A new 5 actors governance (unions, elected representatives, env. NGOs, employers, State)  Led to the adoption of environmental framework laws Grenelle I and Grenelle II  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 (better control of advertising)  more accessible (bonus malus, incentives) The origin of the French approach : the « Grenelle de l’environnement »

4  Act on supply…and demand !  Tool mix: voluntary (voluntary agreements with retailers and other sectors, sustainable public procurement), regulatory (labelling, CSR), incentives (bonus-malus, green « zero-rate » loans)  New governance (strong multi-actor and open approach, ex: reinforcement and opening of the organisms controlling green commercial claims, very participative Platform for the environmental labelling methods), Public sector leading by example – Etat exemplaire Sustainable consumption and production (SCP)

08/05/10 SCP tools  Bonus malus on cars: in 2 years (end 2007 to end 2009), decrease of 16g CO 2 /km average emissions of new sold cars (France now best performing EU MS)  Buildings: strengthened thermal standards, « zero rate » green loans (thermal renovation, renewable energies), sustainable development tax break (crédit d’impôt développement durable) : 6 million households  FR very active EU ecolabel & eco-design  Sustainable public procurement: national action plan,  Promotion of fair trade products  Voluntary agreements with retailers on sustainable and green products, waste, energy efficiency etc..

08/05/10 Corporate social responsibility (CSR)  Strengthening of the legislation on social and environmental reporting by large companies (more companies, reinforced reporting modalities, verification etc..)  Inter-interministerial and stakeholders networks on CSR  Establishment of an on-line CSR platform  Stakeholders working group to reflect on CSR criteria and labels  Promotion by the Ministry of Socially responsible / ethical investments (ISR: investissements socialement responsables)  Sector voluntary agreements with the Ministry

08/05/10 Sustainable consumption : consumer product labelling  Key tool: Environmental product information labelling (display):  Direct objective, medium term : consumers (providing information on the environmental impacts)  Indirect objective, short term : producers (measuring the impacts)  Initiatives in many countries…some French specificities : multicriteria (not only carbon), and regulatory perspective…(after national experimentation)

08/05/10 Environmental product information  ADEME-AFNOR Platform and working groups with industry and stakeholders to develop the methods (impact measurement) and the tools (database, calculators)  General methodology and product category rules, database  National experimentation : 168 companies (all sectors, all sizes, and including several foreign ones) testing for one year from environmental product information to the consumers  Evaluation to be sent to Parliament to decide on generalisation

08/05/10 Voluntary initiatives already on the market

10 Merci pour votre attention ! Bernard Brillet tel: