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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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 (2006)
ISO (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 (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

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

7. 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

8. 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!

9. 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.

10. For any further information
Thank you !
Any questions
For any further information 10 10