How can we build a European Ecolabelling for food products ?
The ECO FOOD CHOICE project aims to provide an answer to this question over the next four years.
This is the repay of the presentation webinar of EcoFoodChoice which took place the 18th of April 2024 to present the objectives of our new Life project born of the shared ambition of researchers, policy makers and companies to develop and harmonize ecolabelling on a European scale.
The coordinating team : Gregoire Richard (Ademe), Vincent COLOMB (Ademe), Koen Boone (Wageningen University and Research), Ralph K. Rosenbaum from (IRTA) and Dr. Birgit Schulze-Ehlers (University of Goettingen) explain you how the project plan to achieve this ambitious goal with 3 main work packages :
DATA : We aim to develop a harmonized methodology for life-cycle inventories of food products in Europe, with the aim of creating robust environmental databases for food products.
METHOD : Building on French work, the aim is to develop a standardized method for aggregating life cycle inventory scores and translating them into an environmental score that takes into account all the environmental impacts of food products.
TEST : We plan to test an ecolabelling system in real-life conditions, involving experiments in supermarkets, canteens and online platforms in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. These tests will help assess the impact of labelling on consumer purchasing behavior and on farmers' practices.
The ECO FOOD CHOICE project aims to provide an answer to this question over the next four years.
This is the repay of the presentation webinar of EcoFoodChoice which took place the 18th of April 2024 to present the objectives of our new Life project born of the shared ambition of researchers, policy makers and companies to develop and harmonize ecolabelling on a European scale.
The coordinating team : Gregoire Richard (Ademe), Vincent COLOMB (Ademe), Koen Boone (Wageningen University and Research), Ralph K. Rosenbaum from (IRTA) and Dr. Birgit Schulze-Ehlers (University of Goettingen) explain you how the project plan to achieve this ambitious goal with 3 main work packages :
DATA : We aim to develop a harmonized methodology for life-cycle inventories of food products in Europe, with the aim of creating robust environmental databases for food products.
METHOD : Building on French work, the aim is to develop a standardized method for aggregating life cycle inventory scores and translating them into an environmental score that takes into account all the environmental impacts of food products.
TEST : We plan to test an ecolabelling system in real-life conditions, involving experiments in supermarkets, canteens and online platforms in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. These tests will help assess the impact of labelling on consumer purchasing behavior and on farmers' practices.
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NewsTranscription
00:00 I'm done with this little introductive poll and I will give the speech to Vincent Collomb,
00:07 who worked with me at VIADEM, to present a little bit of context and who are we as EcoFuturist
00:17 projects.
00:18 Thank you, Gregor.
00:21 I'm very happy to be with you today to introduce our work and a few words about how we build
00:28 this consortium and why we decided to join forces on this topic.
00:33 So we are clearly a scientific consortium.
00:37 We built a strong expertise on food system, environmental assessment method and consumer
00:42 sciences.
00:43 So we all bring our angles on this topic, but we need to unite all these skills to build
00:51 a good eco-labeling from our point of view.
00:54 We are academics or working for public organization with no direct private interest and the project
01:02 is funded by the European Commission, which is important for this kind of topic, we believe.
01:09 We are connected with all relevant stakeholders.
01:12 So we are connected to the governments, but also to retailers, food companies, farmer
01:16 organization, NGOs and so on.
01:19 Those are the key stakeholders to succeed towards harmonization of eco-labeling in the
01:26 future.
01:28 We really all believe that transparency is a key also to achieve harmonization.
01:34 So we will provide all our results will be provided in a very transparent way and also
01:39 about our decision process.
01:41 So you find the consortium.
01:43 So we have people from the four countries with several teams that will not go into the
01:48 details.
01:49 You can find all the information on our website.
01:52 It's about eight organizations that are joining forces.
01:58 A very quick word about what do we talk about when we say eco-labeling.
02:08 So eco-labeling first is an aggregated information about the environmental impact of a product
02:14 or good or service.
02:16 So it can take different formats.
02:19 We see already quite a few ones that have been tested on the market.
02:25 In the food eco-labeling, we have two key objectives.
02:29 The first one is to be able to go on to evolve on the diets and the consumer diets.
02:37 And so we need to be able to compare quite different kind of food products.
02:41 So for example, spinach lasagna with chicken and fries.
02:47 So this is more the diet angle.
02:50 And the other is more like really drive eco-design and improve of production practices along
02:56 the value chain.
02:58 And there it's more about comparing very similar products.
03:01 So for example, two kind of yogurts from different brands.
03:05 And so we need to achieve an eco-labeling scheme that is able to do the two things,
03:10 which is not easy.
03:18 A few words about the European context.
03:21 So we are going clearly towards more and better information for consumers with a stronger
03:27 public regulations.
03:29 With two key documents today, which are Farm to Fox strategy, which is a European strategy
03:35 to go towards more fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food systems.
03:42 And which acknowledge that the environmental information is one important tool to support
03:47 the food system transformation.
03:50 The other big regulation that is under preparation is a green claim proposal.
03:58 So Europe wants to better frame the green claims from the companies.
04:03 And so this is covering the aggregated environmental cause, so like the one we're working on.
04:10 And it wants to ensure that communication is based on strong scientific evidence, transport
04:16 methods and good verification schemes.
04:20 So that will be the requirement in the future for environmental communication.
04:25 With the idea is to really fight against greenwashing, which is today penalizing both the companies
04:31 and the consumers.
04:36 So we want to contribute to this better environmental information in future.
04:42 And we share a common vision with all the partners that today the PAF, the Life Cycle
04:47 Assessment Framework, is the best basis, is a good tool to address sustainable consumption
04:54 and compare product based on their environmental impact.
04:58 The PAF is addressing 16 environmental dimensions.
05:05 I will not mention all of them, but there is climate change, water impact on the water,
05:12 on the toxicity and so on.
05:14 And it's really covering a broad set of environmental key issues.
05:18 And so we need to rely on that framework.
05:21 However, those dimensions are for all the sectors.
05:27 And we acknowledge that for food sector in particular, there are some gaps still in this
05:33 PAF framework and we need to address.
05:35 We cannot have a convincing eco-labeling scheme without addressing effect on local biodiversity
05:42 of some farming practices like hedges or to reflect the agroecological services due to
05:51 meadows, extensive meadows and so on.
05:57 So we need to complete the PAF framework as it is today and to support the evolution of
06:02 this PAF framework.
06:04 And so this is a common vision by the partners and that's the way we will work in the future.
06:13 So a few working principles that will guide our work in the coming years.
06:19 We really want to have a pragmatic approach and that's our recommendation will be ready
06:24 to use.
06:25 We want to go something that is operational for European and large scale eco-labeling.
06:31 So we need to pay attention about the cost and complexity.
06:34 We cannot ask for data that are not available for the companies in the short term.
06:41 We want a scheme that is science-based.
06:43 So we will rely as much as possible on published information on the most up-to-date scientific
06:49 standards and we really want to reflect to think with a materiality approach.
06:53 So to connect with the physical flow.
06:56 So if we say this product has more impact than this other one, it means that it's consuming
07:00 more gas or more oil or it's taking more, it's used more spaces, it has more effect
07:08 on biodiversity and to be transparent on this relationship.
07:14 We are in a test and learn approach.
07:18 So we will test to measure the unreal products.
07:20 We will include the diversity of products, so including organic, look at different kind
07:26 of practices and see how our method is applying to those diversity of products on the market.
07:35 We work to work with transparency, transparency on the method and transparency also on the
07:41 secondary data.
07:42 So those are all the data that are not provided directly by the food manufacturer but are
07:48 like behind the screen in the system.
07:52 So that's all the default data that we are using.
07:56 They need to be transparent and to be discussed to be suitable.
08:02 And finally we have a neutral approach.
08:04 So we have no vested interest in any specific sector and it's also important when we are
08:09 driving this kind of scheme as a collaborating.
08:13 >>David Dubois: Thank you very much Vincent.
08:16 I will continue with a quick presentation of the general structure of our projects.
08:22 So the target vision, the ultimate goal is to present the European Commission with a
08:29 validated ecolabelling display system recognized and accepted by a wide range of stakeholders
08:36 by 2028 and to achieve this ambitious goal we have three main work package which is
08:42 the three big actions we will do and our work package leader will answer in detail just
08:50 after on it.
08:51 But quickly we have the data which is building up.
08:55 We'll develop harmonized methodology for life cycle inventories of food product in Europe.
09:01 We have the second work package which is on method, the development of methods and tools
09:07 and where the aim is to develop a standardized method for aggregating life cycle inventory
09:12 scores and translating them into an environmental score that takes into account all the impact
09:21 of food products.
09:23 And the third work package, big work package on testing and formats, we plan to test an
09:29 environmental ecolabelling under real life condition and this test will help to assess
09:37 the impact of a label on consumer purchasing behavior.
09:42 So I let Kuhner, Buner, Ralph Rosenbaum and Berghage were the work package leader to present
09:51 quickly their work package.
09:53 And on this illustration you can also see the purple box because we want to say that
09:57 our mission is to harmonize, is to be an harmonization forum.
10:01 We're not going to work on our own.
10:04 The aim is to build a consensus accepted by a wide range of stakeholders.
10:09 So they are just pretty words for now but we'll go into more detail on this point in
10:13 the second part of the meeting on how to go toward harmonization.
10:17 So I think it's, I give the mic to Ralph Rosenbaum from IRTA.
10:24 Yes, thank you very much Grégoire.
10:27 So, work package two is all about methodology related to LCA and particularly life cycle
10:34 inventory modeling.
10:36 So this is where we think the harmonization should be focused mostly on the inventory
10:41 parts or things like system boundary, functional unit, allocation methods, emission modeling,
10:48 recycling circularity, primary data requirements, data quality requirements, etc.
10:57 It's probably unavoidable to also touch a little bit on life cycle impact assessment
11:01 at least define the impact categories required and which methods should be used.
11:06 But we all know that this is anyway also an evolution over time.
11:11 So we will not be working on impact categories but there will probably be something around
11:17 which impact categories need to be covered or should be covered, etc.
11:23 Another important point is also guidance on how to build a database, national and local
11:29 databases or whatever scale would be required, could also be a company database.
11:39 On the one side on data collection, so data guidance on quality of data and requirements
11:46 for these data to be collected.
11:49 Also extrapolation is likely to be a very important factor meaning that if you don't
11:54 have a specific data set available for your country but you find it for another country,
11:59 there will be guidance on what are the specific information that you need to meaningfully
12:04 translate this data set to become a proxy or representative for your region, your country
12:10 or your company, whatever context.
12:12 And we're talking about secondary data here of course, not primary data, which most likely
12:18 by definition will be required to be representative of the company, of the product in question.
12:29 There will also be, we also need to sort of look into the future and the evolution that
12:35 the LCA methodology is taking, which is speeding up again also on the life cycle impact assessment
12:43 arena in the last year.
12:45 So we have something like microplastics, ecosystem services, two of the various aspects that
12:53 are very important, not yet really fully covered by standard life cycle assessment and impact
12:59 assessment methodology, but this can be expected to be changed.
13:04 So I think we need to also find a way to incorporate at least as placeholders or initial guidelines
13:12 on what data requirements you can expect or should cover basically on that.
13:19 So it's really on how to get your data, how to extrapolate data from other data sets and
13:25 how to get your inventory modeling finished.
13:29 Thank you.
13:30 Thank you, Ralph.
13:32 Let's go with Kuhn from Wageningen University, who are the leader of the Work Package 3
13:40 and LCA scores, two E-scores.
13:43 Yeah, hello everybody.
13:45 Kuhn Böhner speaking from the Netherlands.
13:47 Nice to see that there are so many participants from the Netherlands.
13:52 So a special welcome to them.
13:55 I want to describe a bit more about Work Package 3, and it's the step where we move from what
14:03 has been delivered in Work Package 2, so the life cycle inventory data to a score that
14:11 can be communicated to consumers.
14:14 And we have three different steps in Work Package 3.
14:19 And the first one we already started with for about four or five months, and that's
14:26 that we want to look at the state of the art of eco-labeling.
14:29 So we made an inventarization of the, in our opinion, most influential eco-labelings
14:36 that are currently on the market.
14:38 And the 16 that we selected, you can see at the bottom of this page.
14:44 We take both government or national initiative into account, which you can see with the national
14:50 flags, but also quite a lot of private initiatives.
14:56 And for all those 16 initiatives, we score them on 40 different criteria.
15:04 So it's criteria like who's behind the eco-label, how are stakeholders involved, but also very
15:12 detailed criteria on the exact methodology used, the themes that are taken into account,
15:19 and how indicators are calculated and translated into a score.
15:25 Now, currently, we already finished the scoring of those 16 eco-labeling initiatives through
15:34 those 40 criteria.
15:36 And just yesterday, we sent the list to all the owners of the initiative for a check and
15:42 maybe some additional information.
15:45 So then when we move to the next step, we are really up to date about all the developments
15:51 in Europe, and then we are going to work on the development of the methodology.
15:57 So we will try as good as possible to integrate everything into our LCA methodology.
16:03 So hopefully, we don't need to do anything outside LCA methodology.
16:09 But if we fail to do so in WorkPackage 2, we will also check if additional information
16:16 outside of LCA is needed.
16:20 Then we also see what kind of primary product-specific data we need to get a reliable score.
16:29 So what kind of data should we make mandatory so that we are reliable enough for giving
16:36 a score?
16:37 And then we also work on a lot of methodological issues related to LCA and translating into
16:43 a score.
16:44 So what kind of categories do we create, an A2E or other type of system, an absolute
16:50 score?
16:52 We also want to work on the data quality score and all those type of issues.
16:58 And then the third step in WorkPackage 3 is to develop a roadmap.
17:03 So we develop a co-labeling system in this project, but it should be a permanent thing
17:11 and not just something that we develop in a project and then it ends.
17:17 So we hope that what we do will be adopted either by public or private parties.
17:25 But we want to guarantee that there is a structure also for the maintenance of the system so
17:31 that it stays there and it's not just a project that ends.
17:37 So around those issues we will develop a roadmap to guarantee that there is a permanent label
17:48 available.
17:49 Thank you Kunen and I now give the floor to Birgit Schulze-Eller from Göttingen University.
17:59 Thank you Gregoire.
18:00 Good afternoon everyone from Germany now.
18:03 So my name is Birgit Schulze-Eller and I'm coordinating WorkPackage 4, which is about
18:08 to validate the environmental labeling in real conditions.
18:11 But as a precondition of that, we're currently taking stock of what has been done in consumer
18:18 research on consumer reactions to currently proposed LCA-based labels and also other sustainability
18:27 labels.
18:28 So this is the first part of WorkPackage 4.
18:30 And then in the next year we will first do testing of objective understanding, intuitive
18:36 reactions, etc. to different types of visuals, which are systematically varied across certain
18:43 elements of design.
18:46 And based on that, we will go with one label format for the last part of the project to
18:54 do a testing in real life conditions.
18:56 We have a great partner in Spain there with Ametja Roerchen, a Spanish retailer who will
19:02 go for the testing.
19:04 And we also, letter of intention by Lidl to support our testing as well across all countries.
19:17 And we'll also do testing in canteens, particularly in France.
19:21 So there is two main things we need to consider in this phase.
19:27 That is the identification of intra as well as intercategory substitution.
19:30 So Racine Collomb already mentioned the importance of the two levels.
19:35 And then there's also testing of supporting instruments, obviously, because I think all
19:40 prior testings and rollouts of eco labels, sustainability labels have shown that just
19:48 putting the label on the package is not sufficient.
19:52 So we will test further supporting instruments going along with the real life tests.
19:58 And then there's another stream of research we're conducting in WorkPackage4 and that
20:03 concerns the level of farmers where we will be developing reduction-oriented supplier
20:09 schemes with dairy companies, particularly in Spain and Germany in first instance.
20:14 And we are in all of these validation steps still open for further collaboration if that's
20:20 of interest to anyone here in the room or during the further process of the project.
20:26 We use mixed method approaches there, meaning we combine qualitative and quantitative data
20:34 analysis and in the farmers part, we also use action research to validate our approach.
20:41 And that's it from my side for the moment.
20:43 >>David: Thank you very much, Birgit.
20:46 And finally, to end this first part of the meeting, here's a quick timeline to sum up
20:51 what this project, which as you understand is intended to be as operational as possible,
20:57 will produce.
20:58 So it will be available.
21:00 All this will be available on our website or in communication on LinkedIn, et cetera.
21:06 And we hope that this report, methods, and tools will be as useful as possible for everyone
21:12 and for companies, agri-food companies, of course.
21:15 So in 2024, during the first year, we will present the guidelines to transpose LCA database
21:21 from a country to another.
21:22 It was the extrapolation method that Ralph Rosenbaum talked about.
21:28 Also what I've presented just before, the overview of European LCA-based eco-labelling
21:34 initiative and also a review of consumer research of Birgit's Work Package 4 will be issued
21:42 at the end of the year.
21:45 And then we will work in 2025 on the method and on the LCA, SCIA methodology on Work Package
21:54 4.
21:55 And we will launch this method in 2026.
22:00 So a method to calculate environmental score and a generic method for life cycle inventories
22:09 that Ralph presented.
22:10 We also developed a new format for eco-labelling to be tested in real life to test and validate
22:17 the effect on consumer behavior that will be published at the end of the project in
22:22 2027.
22:24 And we also plan to develop a tool to test our method in order to be an operational
22:31 project for companies.
22:33 And we will also publish some results and case studies on real projects in 2026.
22:40 So I hope it was clear for this presentation of project objective, action, and timetable.
22:48 Don't hesitate to – because we are entering in our first question time, we plan 10 minutes,
22:55 but we will have also a discussion time at the end of the meeting before – after the
23:02 second part of the meeting, which will be on our vision of harmonization and how we
23:08 want to go towards harmonization.
23:12 So I remind that the questions are in the Q&A tab.
23:17 I saw that there is already one question that we may can answer, perhaps a premature question,
23:25 but is there an idea to somehow combine eco-labelling with nutrient labels or will there be several
23:32 labels in a food product?
23:34 I don't know if someone wants to answer that.
23:37 I can, but maybe Vincent, you want to answer.
23:41 I think it's linked between Nutri-Score and the future eco-label.
23:47 >>Vincent Richard: Well, we're clearly on two different dimensions, Nutri-Score about
23:55 health and nutrition, and we are about environmental impacts.
23:59 So the question is, is there a risk that consumers get confused or mixed?
24:04 And this is something we've already started exploring in France, but our results will
24:10 also confirm that today, apparently, the consumer understands the difference and is able to
24:15 manage and is asking for the two kinds of information.
24:18 >>Julien [Nicolas] Okay.
24:21 So we had some other questions.
24:23 Don't hesitate to put some reaction on the Q&A question, because we won't be able to
24:28 answer everything, but we will maybe continue by email if there is a question that hasn't
24:35 been answered.
24:36 Just a question, could you explain more about the idea of making primary data mandatory?
24:42 Will this be the case from the start or more something that you work towards over time?
24:48 I don't know if it's...
24:50 >>Vincent Richard Yeah, I can say something around it.
24:54 And there are also some other questions in the chat, Grégoire, so maybe also to look
25:01 at that.
25:02 >>Julien [Nicolas] I didn't see the chat, sorry.
25:04 >>Vincent Richard So we still have not decided.
25:07 So that's one thing that we want to take into consideration to have a growth model where
25:15 maybe you start with more easy, readily available information, and in the later stage, will
25:24 be more demanding on the mandatory information.
25:29 But it's certainly something that we take into consideration and that will be part of
25:34 the research.
25:35 >>Julien [Nicolas] Perhaps I can quickly add in a small addition to that.
25:43 We also counted, like, given the length of the project, by the end of this project, I
25:49 think the situation of primary data availability will drastically have changed due to reporting
25:54 obligations that are evolving right now, at least in Europe and also in North America
26:00 to quite a large extent.
26:01 So I think primary data is only a temporary issue.
26:05 And in five years, I think we can expect to see a lot of change.
26:09 And if not, the methodology, of course, can be adapted to that.
26:13 We're not building something that is sort of disconnected from reality, more the opposite.
26:19 So the idea is really to go for something that is actually feasible and operational.
26:24 >>Julien [Nicolas] Thank you.
26:27 >>Anne-Marie Jolien And yeah, is that okay?
26:29 I could answer another question regarding the removal of the ECO score from products
26:34 in the retail sector, if that now fits.
26:36 >>Julien [Nicolas] Yeah, let's go with that.
26:39 >>Anne-Marie Jolien All right.
26:41 Thank you.
26:42 So there's one question by Sabine Bonneau, I assume from PlanetScore, who stated that
26:47 Lidl Germany and other retailers have removed the ECO score from their products in 2023
26:55 and that there is testing.
26:56 And that's quite interesting, obviously, sharing information on real life testing of other
27:02 labels.
27:03 We will take that into account in our research.
27:04 But just a word on the removal of the ECO score, probably, I guess it was tested and
27:12 is not probably ready yet.
27:15 And I think we, across all the initiatives we have at the moment, we see a lot of criticism
27:19 around methodologies behind that, etc.
27:21 And that's exactly why this project has been set up to improve the methodology and to
27:28 make it as transparent as possible.
27:31 And of course, I guess everyone is very, very open and interested in getting more insights
27:37 into, on the one hand, other methodologies which have been proposed, but probably not
27:43 yet published in all kinds of ways that they are accessible.
27:49 And the other is that we really need full transparency about the consumer research
27:54 being done.
27:55 It is stated here that it was misleading for consumers, probably not so much because
28:00 of being path-based, but of other issues as well.
28:04 We have a lot of evidence as well about misleading elements of other environmental labeling schemes
28:11 which are around and that should be taken into account.
28:14 And we will look into that, in particular in the next year, when looking into different
28:19 label formats to check for potentially misleading effects, misunderstandings by consumers which
28:25 are systematic and also concerning halo effects, etc.
28:30 Because we know that particularly if you put certain claims on products or mention just
28:37 particular effects, that these are kind of extrapolated to other environmental impacts.
28:43 So we need to take care of that and we will do that in our consumer research with a maximum
28:47 transparent approach as well.
28:50 Yeah, just as a last point on that.
28:52 Thank you, Birgit.
28:55 We will continue our presentation on the second part of the meeting and don't hesitate to
29:00 continue to ask questions on the Q&A tab or to react and we may have some time at the
29:06 end to answer the most chosen questions.
29:13 So the second part, how can we go together toward harmonization?
29:17 And I will give the floor to Ralph Rosenbaum to introduce this topic.
29:22 Thank you, Gregoire.
29:26 Yes, so this is just a preliminary idea or preliminary thinking, basically.
29:33 So when we talk about harmonization and like what does it actually entail?
29:38 Does everything need to be harmonized or is it only something, some elements that need
29:44 to be harmonized, others not?
29:48 And this is actually the way we perceive it.
29:50 So on the left side, you see what we consider public domain.
29:53 What public domain means is basically that this is where transparency should apply.
29:58 This is where harmonization actually should apply.
30:00 So everything related to modeling choices, calculation, aggregation methodology of different
30:06 indicators, data quality requirements, etc. should be harmonized and should be comparable
30:13 between any label that's on any product.
30:19 Default and background databases, so only primary data or company specific data, if
30:24 you like, should obviously not be harmonized because they are by definition not harmonizable.
30:30 Company specific, everything else should be.
30:34 There should be review and auditing rules that also should not really be open to variation.
30:41 And label format and design because it must be recognizable, etc., etc.
30:46 It's very clear that there should be one single label that can be recognized.
30:52 And then on the right side, a few ideas, probably incomplete, very likely incomplete of things
30:58 where there's still a lot of space of, let's say, private or non-public initiatives or
31:04 maybe even the market opportunities to take care of that, which is primary data collection,
31:10 analysis and integration.
31:11 So particularly interlinkage with SAP and other formats, software of companies to take
31:20 data from that in an automatized way, tools to implement, so any kind of calculator would
31:26 be here.
31:29 And a labeling program.
31:30 What do we mean by labeling program?
31:32 This is actually, we define this as an offer of combined options that you get on the market,
31:43 basically.
31:44 So a labeling program would offer, we get your data, we do the calculation, we write
31:47 your report.
31:48 That would be an offer, for example.
31:50 Or we also contact an auditor and get your label audited.
31:53 However, other requirements you would have to fulfill before you can actually label your
31:58 product, which is outside the project, of course.
32:00 But this is where we think, where we envisage a lot of possibility for private initiatives.
32:07 And I'm sure there's more.
32:09 Thank you, Ralf.
32:13 Koen Booner will continue this presentation.
32:20 Yeah, so we already indicated that we want to develop a broadly supported label.
32:30 And it means that we are scientists, so we built our methodology on science.
32:38 But it also means that we interact a lot with all the different stakeholders, so that we
32:44 are stakeholder informed and all take their knowledge into account.
32:51 And for all of us, it doesn't mean that we start at zero.
32:55 So we already have the initiatives in France and the Netherlands in the last years where
33:00 we had a lot of interaction with stakeholders.
33:03 I gave 65 presentations in the last two years all over Europe, and where I got a lot of
33:08 feedback and also the other participants already did.
33:12 So all the knowledge and all the feedback that we already got in the last years and
33:17 by studying the current eco labels, we all want to take into account not only from the
33:24 Netherlands and France, but also from Germany and Spain, and also by connecting to other
33:28 countries and to all those different stakeholder groups so that we are sure we take all the
33:34 interest into account, also the administrative burden and those type of things in developing
33:41 our methods.
33:44 We do that informally by having a lot of meetings with all of you and speaking to you and all
33:51 those kind of things, but also to several structural things in the project where I will
34:00 explain more about.
34:02 And in the end, we want to reach to a solution that is hopefully supported by the European
34:09 Commission, but also by all the stakeholders so that it's implemented either by the public
34:18 or the private sector.
34:20 And then a little bit more about how we want to interact with you.
34:25 We set up three different groups of all the different committees that we would like to
34:36 interact with in different ways.
34:39 So the first one is a stakeholder committee where we listed 25 different institutes, organizations
34:49 that we would like to interact with, and we selected those 25 to get a good representation
34:55 of all the different type of stakeholders.
34:59 So we have multinational organizations like the OSCD and the FIO, World Resource Institute,
35:09 we also have branch organizations and involved consumer organizations.
35:14 We have NGOs, general NGOs, but also NGOs active on eco-labeling, data providers, we
35:21 have the private companies that already experimented a lot with eco-labeling and have a lot of
35:27 experience, also eco-labeling initiative itself.
35:32 And then we have the researchers that also have a lot of knowledge about that.
35:38 It doesn't mean that when you're not on this page, you cannot interact.
35:42 We have other ways to do that.
35:44 But with this group, we want to interact on a regular basis with good representation
35:51 of all the different groups.
35:56 And we have also the country committee, as we call it.
36:00 And in this committee, we hope to have as many representatives as possible from European
36:06 countries, from the ministries that are responsible for eco-labeling of food.
36:13 We want to use that to exchange experiences on public policies, but also to get feedback
36:24 to the proposed methodologies, does it really work in all countries in Europe?
36:30 How could national initiatives align with what we're doing on a European scale?
36:38 And how to profit on national scale from the work that we are all doing so that we're sure
36:45 our solution is a solution for all countries in Europe and that we create synergy in this
36:49 project and all countries are aware of it and can profit from it.
36:57 Next one, please.
36:59 And the third group is our technical advisory board.
37:02 And those eight people that you see over here are real scientific specialists.
37:07 And with this group, we will have very in-detail discussions on the methodology and the science
37:13 that is available that we can build on.
37:16 So we already have a lot of knowledge with the eight institutes that are within the project.
37:23 But it's also good to have external people to prevent that we end up with a tunnel vision,
37:31 but also to be sure that we are aware of all the knowledge that is available.
37:41 And then for all others, we will organize these type of webinars that we are currently
37:46 organizing where you can give feedback, where you can ask questions.
37:52 Also, please feel free to connect all of us bilaterally.
37:57 So we have about 20-30 people that are working on the project and you're free to connect
38:04 to any of us to give feedback or input.
38:09 We also just opened LinkedIn.
38:12 So you can see part of it on the right of this page.
38:18 So if you're interested, connect to us through that LinkedIn page.
38:23 And then we'll have a website.
38:26 So on this website, we will publish our publications, any other news that might be interesting for
38:36 you.
38:37 So yeah, it would also be useful if you check this website now and then to be updated about
38:45 the latest developments.
38:53 Thank you very much, Koen.
39:00 We're arriving to the end of this presentation.
39:03 I know we wanted to have time to discuss some points with you.
39:09 So I just – I mean the Q&A tab, we have a question that has some reaction, which will
39:18 be maybe for Vincent Collomb.
39:20 And in 2028, EcoFood Choice Project and the end of the EcoFood Choice Project, what happened
39:26 in France with the EcoScore?
39:28 So it will not be the EcoScore, but I think that she's talking about the initiative in
39:33 France, which is meant to be an obligation for – to set from 20th size.
39:38 I don't know if, Vincent, you want to clarify the – maybe the situation of – in France
39:44 and the relation with EcoFood Choice.
39:47 Yes, sure.
39:49 Indeed we have been working in particular at ADEME and with the French Ministry on an
39:55 official eco-labeling for France as part of a climate law that is in place in France
40:02 that is calling for official and mandatory eco-label for products, so including food,
40:11 but not only food, also textile and other kind of products.
40:16 Today we have been moving forward quite well on textile.
40:20 We are still waiting for political decision on the food sector to share the message and
40:27 to see for the next steps.
40:28 So we can't share a more accurate agenda.
40:32 There has been quite a lot of technical work, and this will also fit our discussion with
40:38 the EcoFood Choice Project.
40:40 The idea, of course, is to build on the existing experience in France and share with the partners
40:45 and improve it to make it a common European scheme in the – through the EcoFood Choice
40:53 Project.
40:54 But there probably be in France a first version of the method, and that will evolve and could
41:04 evolve following the EcoFood Choice Project in a few years.
41:10 I also saw a question about our connection with the UK, Grégoire.
41:16 Should I answer that one?
41:18 Yeah, don't hesitate, François.
41:20 So yeah, we want to develop something that is applicable all over Europe, so not only
41:25 the European Union.
41:28 And a lot of interesting developments are happening in the UK, and we're quite intensively
41:34 involved.
41:35 So we, for example, reviewed some of the preliminary results of IGD.
41:42 We had a lot of meetings with DEFRA in the UK, with RAP and with Hestia, also with Mondra,
41:53 and also related to the Food Data Transparency Partnership.
41:57 So yeah, we also take the development of the UK into account.
42:01 We also got clear indications from DEFRA and also from the other players there that they
42:06 are very interested in what we are doing and also have an interest in aligning with what
42:11 we're doing.
42:12 So although the UK is not part of the European Union anymore, we're still very important
42:17 trade partners.
42:19 So both have an interest to see how we can harmonize also outside the European Union.
42:27 So I can, Grégoire, if you allow me, take a question on the harmonization of allocation
42:32 choices.
42:33 Yeah, I know you.
42:35 That was asked.
42:36 So it's, what about allocation choices in LCA, mass economic or energetic?
42:41 Does it have to be harmonized?
42:43 If the objective is to be able to compare between, well, basically across product categories,
42:49 so animal products with vegetable products, etc., etc., then we think that this is necessary.
42:57 Otherwise, you can only define sort of following more the PEF approach, which does not allow
43:03 that, methodologically speaking.
43:05 Then you can sort of make specific choices for specific product categories, but then
43:11 you lose the opportunity to work on the dietary changes.
43:15 And we believe that this is an essential need for food labeling.
43:21 But yes, we will, we think it must be, yes, we will try to harmonize that.
43:29 Thank you, Ralph.
43:35 Maybe one last question.
43:38 Thank you.
43:39 I try also to answer quickly by message on the question that need a quick answer.
43:49 The question, what would you recommend to a company willing to be proactive on this
43:54 subject which is already conducted LCA on its products?
43:58 How can LCA be utilized to obtain a better score than competitors' products?
44:05 I think it's a question on primary data and secondary data.
44:08 I don't know if Ralph, Kun or Vincent, you want to answer that for a proactive company.
44:15 There's a lot.
44:18 I can say something about it.
44:24 So, we still have to decide about the exact methodology where we want to start with and
44:30 what kind of primary data we take into account.
44:33 So, we cannot give you a very detailed answer on these type of aspects are taken into account
44:39 from beginning and in later years.
44:44 More in general, I would advise you any improvements in LCA scores and sustainability in general
44:51 are welcomed.
44:54 So, I certainly would advise you not to wait until all the details of our methodology are
45:00 there but start improving.
45:03 I'm not sure if we can take everything into account from the earliest start but we'll
45:07 try to keep improving our methodology so that in the end all the opportunities that
45:13 the company has to improve are taken into account.
45:17 If I can just add a quick word on that, it's basically from the company perspective, I
45:24 think the data collection is the same.
45:29 It's a question for us how do we combine those data but to make a good assessment, we need
45:35 to have trustability and good data on practices and on markets.
45:41 And so, the company that wants to be proactive needs to build and to ensure that they have
45:47 very good transparency especially on the hotspots and this is already quite well known
45:53 like on about fertilizers if we talk about crop, pesticide use.
45:58 So, I really think the companies can prepare by ensuring that they have access to this
46:06 data and then in the coming times there will be several proposals to make some scoring
46:14 and communication to consumers and we will try to make our best to have a convincing
46:20 one and to have the company testing it and proposing it to the European level.
46:26 And so, I would say company build your database on your primary data and practices and then
46:34 you can test on all methodology but also others.
46:38 That's somehow not the most difficult part.
46:42 And perhaps a brief line to add to that, don't use only any, no matter which one, eco-labeling
46:50 methodology for eco-design.
46:52 Principally, it's not the idea to work that way.
46:55 So, LCA methodology allows a broader view on your, let's say, hotspots, your primary
47:03 sources of impact which is then where you should be focusing your product improvement
47:09 to get the best out of your investment basically.
47:13 And broader LCA methodology is better on seeing that than the very specific methodology for
47:20 eco-labeling.
47:21 So, that would be another recommendation.
47:23 Already go ahead and don't wait for eco-labeling methodology to evolve.
47:28 Methodology to improve your product is already there.
47:31 Thank you very much, Ralf.
47:33 So, it's 3 p.m. so I imagine you may have the meeting immediately afterwards.
47:39 I won't take up any more of your time.
47:41 I hope it's been interesting for everyone and that you leave with important information
47:46 like this last word from Ralf.
47:49 Thank you all for coming and as Kouen explained, we're staying connected.
47:54 I got a list of everyone who has registered on this webinar and we will be following,
48:02 communicating on LinkedIn and on our website.