Are you curious about the current landscape and future of eco-labeling in Europe? Welcome to the second webinar of the Eco Food Choice Project.
This webinar covers:
• The latest updates from the Eco Food Choice Project
• Key insights from the Wageningen University & Research report on the state of eco-labeling in Europe. The report offers a comparative analysis of 16 of the most relevant LCA-based eco-labels in Europe, assessed across 40 criteria.
This session is aimed at anyone interested in sustainability, food systems, life cycle assessment, or policy. Whether you're a researcher, policymaker, industry professional, or simply curious about sustainable food labeling, this webinar offers valuable perspectives on where we are and where we’re headed.
This webinar covers:
• The latest updates from the Eco Food Choice Project
• Key insights from the Wageningen University & Research report on the state of eco-labeling in Europe. The report offers a comparative analysis of 16 of the most relevant LCA-based eco-labels in Europe, assessed across 40 criteria.
This session is aimed at anyone interested in sustainability, food systems, life cycle assessment, or policy. Whether you're a researcher, policymaker, industry professional, or simply curious about sustainable food labeling, this webinar offers valuable perspectives on where we are and where we’re headed.
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NewsTranscription
00:00:00Hello everyone, welcome to our second EcoFoodChoice webinar. My name is Zoe Coudert, I'm the project
00:00:12manager for EcoFoodChoice. I work at ADEME, which is the French agency for the ecological
00:00:19transition, and I'm glad to be speaking with you today about the current state and future
00:00:24vision of ecolabels in Europe. Before we get started, I would like to share some practical
00:00:32information with you. First of all, this session is being recorded and the replay will be published
00:00:38on our website together with our first webinar within a week, so I invite you to have a look
00:00:43at it later on if you would like to see it again, or if you want to share it with some
00:00:47of your colleagues. Also, please do not hesitate to send your questions in the Q&A section
00:00:53at any time. We will have some time at the end of that presentation to answer some of
00:00:58them, hopefully all of them. If not, we can probably send you an email later on to discuss
00:01:05it with you. Today I'm joined by Khun Boon. Khun is the coordinator of sustainable value
00:01:17chains and the Director Europe of the Sustainability Consortium at Wageningen University
00:01:23and Research, and he's working closely with me on the EcoFoodChoice project. He's leading
00:01:29the Work Package 3 on the scoring methodology of the project, and he will be talking about
00:01:41a review of ecolabels in Europe later during this presentation.
00:01:49The agenda for today, so that's what we have planned. We will start with a short icebreaker,
00:01:57then I will walk you through some updates about the EcoFoodChoice project and some
00:02:04of the longer-term visions as well for you to know about. Then we will have a bit of time for
00:02:11Q&A. If you have questions for me, I will be glad to answer them. We will have another quick
00:02:17poll time to keep the session interactive, and then Khun will present the review of food
00:02:24ecolabels in Europe. At the end, we also have planned some time for more questions and answers,
00:02:30so please, any time during that session, send them through and we will make sure we answer as
00:02:35many of them. We will start with a quick interactive moment. We will ask you what is
00:02:45the first word that comes to your mind when we speak of food ecolabels, and we will create a
00:02:53word cloud with your answers. I will launch that poll now. You should be seeing it on the screen.
00:03:00Any time soon, and we are waiting for your answers.
00:03:11Okay, we can see some answers coming through.
00:03:16We will give you maybe one minute or one minute and a half
00:03:20for you to answer, and then we will show the results.
00:03:30Okay, maybe just a few more
00:03:58seconds, and then we will have a look at the results. I can see some more coming in, so let's see.
00:04:12Yeah, I think we can share the results now. Okay, view results, yeah.
00:04:22I hope everyone can see the results on the screen.
00:04:28No. No, we still see the poll, but I think within the poll, we can also see the results there.
00:04:36Yeah, perfect. Okay, so what we see here is that transparency is very important
00:04:42for a lot of the participants today. We can see other important aspects as well around
00:04:50the responsibility, a lot of things around the consumer, prevent greenwashing. Indeed,
00:04:58also regulations is mentioned, harmonization is also mentioned. So, all of these are actually
00:05:05very important aspects for our project, and LCA data as well. So, yeah, we can see a lot of things
00:05:13that relate quite closely with the EcoFood Choice Project, but we will tell you a little bit more
00:05:20later during that session. Let's now go into the second question.
00:05:28So, the question is, what motivated you to join today's webinar?
00:05:34So, I will send it through, and you should see it on your screen anytime soon.
00:05:44Here as well, we will give you about one minute,
00:05:47one minute and a half to answer. Should be quite quick.
00:06:06If you cannot see it on your screen, please don't hesitate to tell it in the chat or the Q&A.
00:06:14We received some of your answers, so it means it's on your screen, so that's great.
00:06:23Yeah, we can already see the results in the chat, at least. You can see it live. Okay, great. So,
00:06:29yeah, if you go in the chat, indeed, you can see the results live, so I don't actually need to share them.
00:06:35Okay, so it seems that it's been about one minute now. So, what I can see here from your answers is that
00:06:51the most important aspect, even though they are all quite important, all these kind of
00:06:58things that could have motivated you to get in this webinar, probably the most
00:07:04noted one is the best practices for measuring and communicating product sustainability. So,
00:07:10probably some of you are looking for guidance here, and also a lot of you are asking about
00:07:18upcoming regulations and compliance tips, so that's something that is quite important indeed
00:07:24to stay updated with. Tools and data sources in the food sector are also mentioned quite
00:07:32heavily, and then the other ones are maybe a little bit less important. I can see 11
00:07:38participants saying they would like to collaborate with EcoFood Choice.
00:07:42So, please, if that's your case, let us know in the Q&A section, and we can
00:07:47get back to you later on if we identify a good opportunity here. So, don't hesitate to contact us.
00:07:53Okay, moving on, I will now deep dive into the EcoFood Choice project, what it is, what are the
00:08:03objectives of that project, what is the recent progress since last year, and what's our longer
00:08:09term vision. So, just to quickly introduce who we are, because some of you might not know about
00:08:17EcoFood Choice so much. We are a scientific consortium of 30 technical experts with a wide
00:08:27range of expertise in different fields that are complementary, including food systems,
00:08:34environmental assessment methods, consumer science, and more. We are working without
00:08:42private interests. We are funded and supported by the European Union, and we are very transparent
00:08:48in our decision process and the methods that we develop. Also, a strength of that consortium is
00:08:57that we are connected with all the relevant actors, including governments, retailers,
00:09:02food companies, farm organizations, and NGOs. So, that's a little overview of our consortium.
00:09:13And now, I would like to tell a bit more about the project itself and what we are working
00:09:19towards. The vision is to provide Europe with an operational and collectively supported food
00:09:26environmental labelling by 2027, and we are organized into different work packages.
00:09:35Some of them are more technical, and some of them are more around project management and
00:09:40collaboration initiatives. The technical ones, I will talk a bit more about these ones now.
00:09:50Data is one key aspect, and the Work Package 2 is really focused on developing a life cycle
00:09:57inventories methodology, as well as new data sets. The Work Package 3 is focused on the
00:10:07method and, in particular, developing a harmonized methodology to aggregate
00:10:13environmental impacts into a single score. The third one that is focused on technical aspects
00:10:22is the Testing Work Package, Work Package 4. The goal of this Work Package is to test label formats
00:10:29and visuals. The idea here is to understand the labelling effects in real life on consumers.
00:10:38Then, the last one, the last aspect, which is really covered by several Work Packages,
00:10:461, 5 and 6, is around harmonization, I would say, with the final goal of harmonization.
00:10:52It's all what is related to project management inside the consortium, but also communication
00:11:01externally with other organizations, but also with the general public and with the European
00:11:09Union. It's also about raising collaboration opportunities towards harmonization
00:11:17in the long term. That's the overview of what the project is about.
00:11:24Maybe to give you something a little bit more concrete,
00:11:29what we talk about when we talk about eco-labelling, it's really to go from
00:11:34biophysical realities to consumer awareness. That goes through different steps.
00:11:42What we look at, our starting point, is the product environmental footprint and all the
00:11:48different environmental impacts that are included in this framework. We are also considering
00:11:57additional indicators to complete that framework. After that, the idea is to aggregate all these
00:12:08impacts into one score or one color, depending on what will be decided as part of the project.
00:12:19The final part is to decide how this will look like for consumers. What format do we use? What
00:12:27scale do we want to show to the consumers to help consumers select more eco-friendly products?
00:12:41That's what the project is building on. We haven't released our methodology, so
00:12:47there will be details and changes that might not be on that slide today, but that's the framework
00:12:54that we're building on for you to have a better understanding of what it is about.
00:13:03What do we mean by food eco-labelling? Just to give you some ideas around the key objectives
00:13:09of this food eco-labelling that we are working towards. There are two key objectives. The first
00:13:16one is to better inform consumers and to allow them to change their diets towards sustainable
00:13:28choices. In particular, to be able to choose between different product categories, but also
00:13:35within a product category. The other key objective of eco-labelling is to fight against grain washing
00:13:44by driving eco-conception and better production practices, thanks to data. That really allows
00:13:52intra-category comparisons. This is consistent with discussions at the European Union level
00:14:00with the Green Claims Directive, for example, which states that green claims need to be
00:14:08substantiated with scientific evidence, transparent methods and verification schemes,
00:14:15and also the farm-to-fork strategy, which stresses the fact that environmental
00:14:21information is a very important tool for food system transformation.
00:14:26Why do we want to harmonise food eco-labelling? One key statement is that consumers in Europe
00:14:40find it difficult to consume environmentally-friendly, even though the majority of
00:14:46them are in favour of eco-labels, according to a study from EIT Food. Only a small percentage
00:14:55has an environmental label. Also, another issue is that there are tens of different traditional
00:15:02labels, often product or country-specific, with different levels of stringency, which makes it
00:15:08very difficult to compare traditional labels and products within and between categories.
00:15:14It's difficult for companies to differentiate themselves. According to a study from the
00:15:21European Union, 50% of environmental claims by food companies are false or not supported by
00:15:29sufficient proof, at least. There is no harmonised methodology today that is adopted by all food
00:15:37companies for this kind of eco-labelling project, so it's quite difficult to differentiate a company
00:15:46in this landscape. Many other stakeholders need impact data, for example governments,
00:15:53but also supply chain partners, financial actors, farmers, and so on.
00:16:03So that was just to tell you a bit more about what we mean when we talk about eco-labelling
00:16:09and what is EcoFoodChoice, what it is about. Now I will give you maybe, for those who knew
00:16:16the project already, some news since our last external webinar, so that you know what's going
00:16:22on as part of the project. First, I would like to mention a new report which was issued at the end
00:16:33of 2024 on the state-of-the-art of LCA-based eco-labelling schemes in Europe. Koun, which is
00:16:44with me today, will be talking a bit more about the outcomes of that report later during that
00:16:50session. Another important aspect is that we have animated several cooperation platforms,
00:17:00including a stakeholders committee which is gathering a lot of actors in these eco-labelling
00:17:08ecosystems, let's say, to discuss how we can harmonise and cooperate on these
00:17:15eco-labelling aspects. We also have held our first committee of countries which gather
00:17:23policy makers from around Europe, also still with the same goal of discussing harmonisation
00:17:30of eco-labelling in Europe. We also held a retailer-focused webinar to inform retailers
00:17:40on the project, and we have regular meetings with our technical advisory board
00:17:46to advance the methodological aspects about the project.
00:17:54Another important report that was issued at the beginning of this year was a methodology to
00:18:02transpose national food LCA databases to other countries. The goal is really to develop new
00:18:11datasets in Spain, Netherlands and Germany, because these countries are where we have
00:18:18partners in the consortium of the project. This methodology will be tested by developing these
00:18:29datasets, and these datasets transposed will be based on French data from Agribalise, which is
00:18:38the French database. That's one important outcome of the project. This methodology now
00:18:46is issued, so we are able to test it. It's also public, so anyone interested in this
00:18:53webinar can have a look. It's on our website, and it's fully available publicly.
00:18:59Looking ahead, what is planned? I just mentioned the guidelines to transpose LCA databases,
00:19:06and we are working now on the new datasets. I also mentioned the state-of-the-art report already,
00:19:14and now we are working on a beta version of the EcoFoodChoice method. The idea with this
00:19:23beta version, which really is the methodology to go from impact scores to a single score,
00:19:32all the lifecycle inventory methodology and so on, is included in this. This beta version
00:19:40is really just the very first version that we want to test with a scoring tool,
00:19:50with real products, to see how it performs and to issue a final version of the EcoFoodChoice
00:19:57method at the end of 2026 that is well informed by this testing phase. It's very important to
00:20:05understand that this beta version will not be available for consumer communication. It will
00:20:11be really just for testing at that stage, and the final version will come at the end of 2026.
00:20:20But you will probably see some information about this a bit later in the year,
00:20:25as everything that we do, we will share some information publicly.
00:20:33The market analysis on consumers was also performed, and very soon we will enter in an
00:20:43online testing phase to select label formats that are highly performing with consumers.
00:20:52I will just give more information on this slide, actually. In 2025, what we are doing is that we
00:21:00are testing different formats to identify which one is the most effective for all countries with
00:21:08consumers. In 2025, we tested experimentally in an online shop in four different countries,
00:21:16which you can see on the screen. Next year, what we will do is that we will validate
00:21:22the effect of that label that will be identified in real life stores, online shops, canteens,
00:21:29with real consumers. The main goal of all of this is to validate the impact on consumers.
00:21:38On this, some key concepts that we are testing. So, every product has both an economic and an
00:21:50environmental cost. So, that's a concept that we are testing at the moment. The idea is to say that
00:21:57we could see a cost for the planet like we see a cost for our wallet. So, that's something that
00:22:05we want to test as part of this project. Another key concept that is important to keep in mind is
00:22:14that whether it's making small steps or achieving big improvements, the choice is up to the consumer
00:22:21at the end of the day. So, the score and the label that we want to develop should help consumers
00:22:27compare products within and between food categories, and that's up to the consumers
00:22:33then how the purchasing behaviour will be going on. So, what do we want to test?
00:22:40We want to test different things. First is numerical indicators, and that's relating to
00:22:47what I was mentioning just before. What we would like to test is an environmental impact score per
00:22:54kilogrammes, for example, like a price per kilogramme, but for the planet. So, that's
00:23:00something that could be quite interesting to test with consumers to see how they understand it
00:23:08and how that helps people to buy more sustainably. And another thing that we are planning to test is
00:23:17an environmental impact score out of 100 points, a bit more like a mark or an assessment. So,
00:23:22that's also a concept that can relate for someone shopping.
00:23:32And the other part that we are testing is colour scale. A colour scale
00:23:39is very efficient to nudge consumers visually. For example, going from green,
00:23:48which is a low impact on the planet, to red, which is a high impact. So,
00:23:53we could test different scales. We don't need to stick to one five-level scale, for example.
00:24:01We can test other levels as well. So, as part of the project, we want to test five levels,
00:24:09which is a little bit more usual, and also eight levels, which could give more precise
00:24:16information to the consumer. And the goal is really to understand whether consumers relate
00:24:22to that kind of display and how they understand it. So, that means that we will test four
00:24:30combinations of numerical indicators and colour scales as part of the project.
00:24:37We are also having at the moment a grading methodology for product classification,
00:24:44which is not the final one, because we are still working on the final methodology,
00:24:48as mentioned earlier. This grading methodology we have at the moment is really for
00:24:53an experimental format test, which aims at understanding what consumers better understand.
00:25:01And the results of that testing phase are expected at the end of 2025. So,
00:25:09you will be able to have more information next year about this.
00:25:17Okay, so that's all for my part. I would like to invite you to stay updated with our project,
00:25:23because a lot is going on, as you could see, and we have a lot of things that will be released in
00:25:29the coming month and year. You can stay updated by following the LinkedIn page, which we keep
00:25:38updated. There's also a webpage that you can visit anytime. A webinar will be organised every
00:25:49year for you to get the updates in real time, more or less. And you can always reach out for
00:25:56questions. So, you have my email address here. Please feel free to send me an email if you have
00:26:05a burning question about EcoFood Choice. If you have any questions at that stage, I suggest we
00:26:13take five minutes to answer them. And if not, we can move to the next part.
00:26:22Yeah, I already tried to answer some of the questions in the Q&A,
00:26:26Zoe, but there are also some new ones. So, maybe we can take them orally.
00:26:31Yeah.
00:26:35So, one question is, will you be sharing insights into the various types of labels formats
00:26:40you will be testing? Yeah. So, we will share more insights once we have
00:26:49validated label formats that are working well with consumers. So, at the end of this year,
00:26:56you can expect to receive some more insights on these label formats, as well as the results.
00:27:04Okay. And then there is a question regarding environmental costs.
00:27:09So, are you going to monetise the impacts? If so, for all environmental impacts?
00:27:16So, at this stage, I do not think it's part of the EcoFood Choice project.
00:27:21However, it can be definitely something that can be considered as part of this project or other
00:27:32European projects. But at that stage, it's not planned in our project.
00:27:39Yeah. So, it's not part of our project to calculate through cost accounting or
00:27:44those types of concepts. However, the results that we produce, that result in
00:27:54environmental impact of products, can be very useful for other types of projects that focus on
00:28:01true cost accounting. Because an important part of a true cost calculation is the calculation of
00:28:08the footprints. So, it will be, our results will be a good start for follow-up research in that
00:28:15direction. And then there is a question, how will you manage both the within and between display?
00:28:27So, that's about, if I understand well, it's about the between and within product categories.
00:28:36So, that's actually what we are testing now. We are testing different labels to see,
00:28:45to understand how we can compare products within a category and between different categories.
00:28:51Sometimes, if we only have a five-colour scale, for example, it's not very easy to
00:29:01differentiate within a product category because they might all be in the same
00:29:05colour. So, that's also why we plan to test numerical values or a wider range of colour
00:29:15scales because that's how we can differentiate within a product category. So, that's how we
00:29:22will manage. At that stage, we are still in the testing phase. So, we don't have a definitive
00:29:27answer, but that's under testing and that's part of the project.
00:29:33Yeah, and our current thinking is not to make a separate comparison within a particular product
00:29:41category. So, all products are all into one scale and can be used both for comparison within and
00:29:50between product categories. We don't have the intention to have a separate comparison for all
00:29:57meat products, for example, or for all vegetables or those kind of things. They are all rated on one
00:30:01scale and with the combination of the colour coding and the numerical score, consumers can
00:30:09use the results for both purposes. I propose that we leave the other questions for the moment now,
00:30:17Zoe, and move to the next presentation, but maybe you can already answer some of them while
00:30:25I am presenting. Yeah, sure, we can do that. So, thank you everyone for all your questions.
00:30:33Okay, we just have a quick poll to keep everyone
00:30:41active. So, just an introductory poll, which of these aspects seems most important to you in a
00:30:48food ecolabel? Okay, I will launch it now. So, we will just have one minute for it.
00:30:58And the other one will be what is most needed to support the harmonisation of a food ecolabel. So,
00:31:04we will have a bit of time to answer and then I will hand over to Koune
00:31:12for the next part of the presentation.
00:31:18Okay, and the other one is here.
00:31:49Okay, I'm launching the other one as well.
00:31:58So, we can see here a little bit like in the world cloud before that transparency is very
00:32:03important for our audience. Also, scientific accuracy is very important,
00:32:14as well as product comparability, which also ranks quite high.
00:32:19And now, when we look at the world cloud that is being generated, we can again see a lot of
00:32:30people mentioning transparency, but also data, which is coming here, which was maybe not as much
00:32:39in the previous one. So, data is very important here.
00:32:42Okay, well, I suggest, as we received the last answers, we move to the next part of that
00:32:52presentation. So, Koune, I will give you the floor now for the review of food ecolabels in Europe
00:33:02and the vision for future ecosystem of ecolabels.
00:33:06Okay, thank you, Zoe. So, my name is Koune, I work for Wageningen Economics and Social Research
00:33:12in the Netherlands, part of Wageningen University and Research. And I've been involved in the
00:33:18review on what is currently on the market. Next slide, please. So, why did we look at all the
00:33:29initiatives that are already there? Now, first of all, to get inspired by initiatives that are on
00:33:38the market, which ones are successful in the way that they are adopted by retailers and food
00:33:44service providers. But, yeah, also just to learn from others. Next slide, please.
00:33:58We want to look at the particular aspects of all the different
00:34:04labels, looking at, really, all the different aspects from the layout of the label to the
00:34:10methodology to the data that they are using. And, yeah, most importantly, we want to get inspired
00:34:18from best practices for the work that we want to do in the coming years. Next one.
00:34:29So, we started immediately when the project started. So, the official kickoff of the project
00:34:34was in November 2023. And then we started making a list of criteria that we want to use to assess
00:34:46all the different labels. We assembled the information about the most important labels,
00:34:51we did a validation and verification where the owners of the labels checked if we made the right
00:34:57interpretation of their initiative. We made the analysis and wrote a report in fall of last year.
00:35:05Next one, please. Now, what were the criteria to select the different initiatives? In total,
00:35:13we selected 16 initiatives. And we want to involve the ones that are science-based and LCA-based,
00:35:22that have a transparent and accessible methodology,
00:35:29were used or at least ready to use within Europe, that had either a large scale of
00:35:37implementation currently or have the opportunity to be scalable on a very large size.
00:35:46Next one. Now, you can see the 16 initiatives that we took into account. We started with a
00:35:54total list of nearly 40. But based on the criteria I just showed, we ended up with those 16.
00:36:06Some of them really focus on communication to the consumer, so the eco-labeling. Some others
00:36:13have more a focus for business-to-business reporting, so scope-free reporting,
00:36:21and maybe at a later stage move to eco-scoring. We took them also into account because several
00:36:27of those tools were very intensively implemented by retailers and food service companies in Europe.
00:36:35We also took ITD into account. It's not an official initiative, but
00:36:40it's just an organization that provided input for the UK government on methodologies and labeling.
00:36:53Next one, please. So, what were the 40 criteria that we assessed the different eco-labeling
00:37:03initiatives on? First of all, LCA methodology. Secondly, how to move from an LCA score
00:37:14to an eco-label score, so the eco-labeling and scoring methodology. Then, the label design.
00:37:24A separate report will also be published in the coming months where we did go a bit more in
00:37:33detail, but we also took it in a bit of a rough way into account in this report.
00:37:38Then, we also took the governance into account, so who's the owner of the initiatives,
00:37:42how is stakeholder involvement arranged, how transparent are the different
00:37:48tools. Next one, please.
00:37:56So, the first thing that we identified is what are the most important key success factors,
00:38:04both from a methodological side and from an operational and governance side.
00:38:09So, we looked at initiatives that are already implemented in practice,
00:38:17and also at meetings with the owners to check what is working well and what wasn't.
00:38:25I will not go into all the details over here. They're also written in our report,
00:38:32so if you want to go more in detail, you can also get a closer look at our report.
00:38:38Next one, please.
00:38:43Yeah, it was a bit of a challenge to present all the results here of all the differences
00:38:50between the different initiatives, and therefore, we will only report a part of it.
00:39:00So, in this graph, we took all 16 initiatives and put them onto two scales,
00:39:09one for the methodology that they use and the amounts of environmental indicators they take
00:39:15into account. So, on the left hand are the initiatives that mainly focus on greenhouse
00:39:23gas emission and focus on the ISO or greenhouse gas emission protocol.
00:39:29And on the right hand, you see the initiatives that are more focused on the product
00:39:34environmental methodology and start with 16 impact indicators. Sometimes they adapt it a bit,
00:39:42but at least they start with the PEF methodology. And then on the other X, you can see that the
00:39:51private schemes, the for-profit schemes, and then the public schemes. And on the top of the
00:40:00graph, you see the government initiated initiatives, and in the middle, the more NGO
00:40:08type of organizations. You can see that most of the private initiatives currently focus on
00:40:17greenhouse gas emission. And that's also because most interest from the users, so the retailers
00:40:23and the food service companies, is currently on greenhouse gas emission, also related to their
00:40:30reporting for the CSRD and the SVTI. Now, in red, we put a circle on the initiatives that are
00:40:38currently most successful in the European market. So, they're broadly implemented or at least piloted
00:40:45all over Europe and are, from a technology point of view, quite advanced and make it
00:40:54very efficient for retailers to score all their products for low cost.
00:41:03We also put a green circle on Foundation Earth, which is currently owned by EIT Food, because
00:41:14we like the governance structure that they have, so that the initiative is managed by an NGO
00:41:20and the methodology is fully transparent and everybody can provide feedback on it.
00:41:28Next slide, please.
00:41:32So, I'm not sure that you're all aware on how those advanced, so the four ones with the red circle
00:41:41work. So, how do they manage to calculate greenhouse gas emissions for thousands of
00:41:50products? So, in this graph, I try to explain it a little bit. So, they start with data that is
00:41:57already available in the retail databases that most retailers have. So, in those product databases
00:42:04that are not there because of sustainability reasons, but originally for a lot of other
00:42:09purposes, the product name and weight is included, the quantity and origin of the ingredients,
00:42:16so where the primary production took place, the quantity and the material of the packaging,
00:42:22sometimes the country of processing and consumption is also there, and things like
00:42:27nutritional data and storage temperature. So, what those tools do is that they link
00:42:35that detailed product information to information about the average impact
00:42:42of a particular ingredient produced in a particular country,
00:42:47so that they get an average impact of those ingredients and they take the amount of the
00:42:54ingredients and where the ingredients were produced into account to come up with a first
00:43:00estimate. They do the same for packaging material and traveling distances and all those type of
00:43:05things, and they also have approaches for when this information is missing, so it's not always
00:43:10complete, and then there are procedures to estimate missing information. In that way, they can already
00:43:20give a quite reliable estimate of the greenhouse gas emissions of a product,
00:43:27and then the next step is to invite producers to provide more detailed information on where
00:43:35they are different from the average way how a product is produced, and where they have
00:43:43better information than is currently in the model. They're also working on simulation models,
00:43:49but with the procedures to provide primary information, and the simulation
00:43:56models are really at the start of it, but they're working on methodologies to also include that.
00:44:02Next slide, please.
00:44:07It's not only that a lot of initiatives are built, and tools are built, but they're also
00:44:14quite intensively implemented. Again, not always for eco-labeling. In some cases, it's just product
00:44:20footprinting. You could say that in the western half of Europe, in every country, leading
00:44:27organizations are working with these tools, or at least piloting with these tools. Next one, please.
00:44:33Now, what are the main conclusions of our report? It's a very fast growth of eco-labels and
00:44:41footprinting tools. They're using a lot of different methodologies, and also a lot of different
00:44:46databases. So, the secondary data that they are using is also different, which also influences
00:44:53the score of the products. The main driver is not so much consumer communication, but also
00:45:00the reporting for the CSRT and the SBGI. Now, for these purposes, the tools lead to quite good
00:45:08estimates of carbon, and in a very efficient way, using quite advanced technologies.
00:45:17The next step should be to have product-specific information, because that's needed when you really
00:45:27want to make comparison within a product category. So, the current tools are already doing quite well
00:45:31with comparison between product categories, and also for products that have a lot of ingredients,
00:45:38they make a start with comparison within a product category. But for single-ingredient products,
00:45:45still, the next step needs to be made. Most focus on the ingredients gas emission,
00:45:53which would not give a full picture for consumers and the risk of trade-offs.
00:45:58So, other sustainability themes need to be included, and our preference would be to follow
00:46:06the product environmental footprint there, and also to be prepared for the green claims
00:46:10directive of the European Commission. There are large investments made, especially by the private
00:46:17sector, to improve ecolabels, and also some governments are investing a lot.
00:46:25So, a lot of the investors also see a big potential for those ecolabels.
00:46:33What is still needed is a EU-harmonized, transparent methodology and also a secondary
00:46:43database that can be used by all the different initiatives. In our opinion, it should be managed
00:46:50by a non-profit, so that it's accessible for all the for-profit initiatives also,
00:46:58but is managed independently to make it efficient for everybody.
00:47:06Now, the next trend that we see is that there are a lot of collective projects or structures.
00:47:11So, where it's not just one retailer working with one initiative, but especially on national
00:47:18scale, you see like in the UK or join together and work with one tool to see how they can jointly
00:47:29find at least a harmonized approach on national scale. Although we think there should be a role
00:47:36for the non-profit sector in managing a transparent methodology and secondary database,
00:47:41we also see a big role for the private sector. As I mentioned, they already developed very
00:47:49promising tools with advanced technologies. So, we also think that the private sector can be
00:47:55an important tool in developing the tools and the operationalization of these tools
00:48:00using the publicly managed methodology. Next slide, please.
00:48:07Two recent developments that happened after we published the report, but are also relevant for
00:48:14you, I think, is that the European Commission is also working on a new version of the secondary
00:48:20database related to the product environmental footprint in contradiction with the 3.1,
00:48:313.0 version that can only be used for specific purposes. This one will be publicly available
00:48:42and can be used for all purposes. They recently published a vision document
00:48:48that you can read to get more details on what they are looking for.
00:48:56Then, the European Commission also published a new vision document on the future of agriculture
00:49:03and food. What is interesting from the ecolabelling perspective is that they also propose a voluntary
00:49:12on-farm sustainability compass. That means that for all farms in Europe, they want to make a
00:49:21sustainability measurement tool. The proposal is not to make it mandatory, but
00:49:31as many farmers will do it, so that we get a harmonized way of monitoring
00:49:36the sustainability in a very broad way for all farms. They also indicate that based on these
00:49:45farm measurements, a benchmark approach might be also applied for the whole agri-food sector
00:49:55that can also support consumer choices. Next slide, please.
00:50:05Now, here you can see a bit about the vision that we have in mind. I already told a bit about it
00:50:11in the conclusions. In our vision, there are six aspects that should be publicly managed.
00:50:19The LCA method, the ecolabelling method, the secondary database, the verification procedures,
00:50:25the primary data that need to be collected, and the design of the ecolabel
00:50:31that could be managed by EU government bodies or by scientific organizations.
00:50:37And then, they should interact with a lot of the private partners that could also play a big role
00:50:44like the ecolabelling initiatives with their tooling. Next slide, please.
00:50:51I think that's also my last one. What are the next steps for the EcoFood Choice?
00:50:56We see that a lot of interesting things are happening, and it means that we have got a lot
00:51:02of input to base on with our work in EcoFood Choice project, and we're already doing that in
00:51:11the development of the methodology. We'll keep on scanning the developments of leading public
00:51:18and private sectors because things are going very fast and large investments are made, so
00:51:23products are more and more improved. And we're also looking for cooperation with those initiatives
00:51:30to see if, in that way, we can profit from the good work they are doing.
00:51:38And with some of those initiatives, we already have quite intensive conversations on how to
00:51:44cooperate. One way how we could work with private sectors is something that we're
00:51:53currently setting up in the Netherlands, where we want to move with one of those tools from
00:51:58just measuring greenhouse gas emission to 16 PEF impact indicators. We want to move
00:52:06from more secondary data to primary data, improve their secondary databases, and finally end up with
00:52:14well-harmonized systems that can be used both by the retailers and food service companies.
00:52:20And the last thing, which is probably not surprising for you, we need intensive
00:52:24cooperation with the European Commission related to the PEF methodology, which is also
00:52:30in development. The PEF database, the Green Climate Initiative, the Farm Compass,
00:52:36and the developments in the CSRD.
00:52:44And maybe there are some questions about my presentation.
00:52:48OK, so thank you, Koun. We received some questions in the Q&A, so maybe I can ask you a few.
00:53:04For example, the first one we received while you were speaking was, did you consider whether
00:53:08the initiatives use artificial intelligence in their LCA modeling?
00:53:12When recently engaging with an initiative included in the list, we found that manufacturers
00:53:17do not even have to provide their products ingredients in order to get an LCA. This,
00:53:22of course, introduces huge, huge uncertainty around the reliability and transparency of the results.
00:53:29Yeah, so, several initiatives mentioned that they're working with artificial intelligence
00:53:38to scan the web and all kinds of sources to assemble product data. So, in the case of
00:53:49these data are available in databases that retailers have, but as I mentioned,
00:53:53they're also missing data. And in some cases, retailers have very limited information on
00:53:59products. And then they use those new technologies to see if there's a problem with the product.
00:54:08So, there's a lot of data available in the databases that retailers have, but as I mentioned,
00:54:14they use those new technologies to see if they can still find the information
00:54:23through all kinds of sources on the internet. And I agree that you have to be careful with that
00:54:31because you have to check that the information is really reliable. And I also have the impression
00:54:37that it's still in the beginning. So, there's some experimentation going on, but we still
00:54:42have to see how successful it is. Okay, another question.
00:54:53How will you secure that most accurate primary data will be integrated in the calculation?
00:55:01So, how do we secure accurate primary data? It's around...
00:55:08Yeah, so there are different aspects in the questions, I think.
00:55:12How to integrate primary data, which is a challenge, and also to guarantee that the primary
00:55:19data is the right data. So, for that, we also think that verification is important.
00:55:30I included that also as one of the tasks of a public institute that should be clear
00:55:39how data can be verified and to find an efficient way for verification,
00:55:44because we want that the product scoring is implemented on a huge scale for all the products.
00:55:53So, it means that you should also identify very efficient verification procedures. You cannot
00:55:59just send another to every producer for checking the information. But, yeah, it is an important
00:56:08aspect. So, with stimulating to deliver primary data, there are several ways. So,
00:56:22some of the initiatives do not give an average score to producers when they do not deliver the
00:56:32data, but a worse than average score. So, in that way, nearly every producer will get a better
00:56:38score if they deliver data. So, that might be an incentive. It might also be stimulated by the
00:56:46users of the data. So, retailers and food service companies might also ask their suppliers to
00:56:52provide information and incentivize them to do that. So, there are, yeah, we saw quite a very
00:57:04broad set of ways to stimulate the deliverance of primary information.
00:57:15Regulation might be another one. So, it might be that governments make it mandatory and
00:57:20that all companies are supposed to deliver.
00:57:29Okay. Maybe we can take one or two last ones. So, there is one question around how
00:57:37will we recommend the use of a special database for secondary LCA carbon footprint data
00:57:44through, to the member countries of the EcoFood choice by the end of the project.
00:57:54So, yeah, it's around what secondary data we recommend. So, on this, there is, there are
00:58:05ongoing discussions as part of the methodology and potentially around hierarchy of what secondary
00:58:17data should be used depending on the situation as well. So, there will be a first version of that
00:58:25hierarchy when we release the beta version of the method.
00:58:30But, yeah, basically, there will be recommendations.
00:58:37Yeah, but we will, yeah, we will not build a database for all EU countries. We will have a
00:58:43methodology. We will test that methodology. We will implement that methodology in the four
00:58:48countries for a limited number of product categories. So, for those product categories,
00:58:54those secondary databases are available, but not for the full coverage. So, we don't have
00:59:01the resources to do that within our project for all EU countries.
00:59:05No. So, yeah, it will be more other existing databases at this stage,
00:59:11and there are other projects in Europe that are working on creating databases. So,
00:59:17but yeah, as part of the EcoFood choice project, it's not the scope.
00:59:23Okay. I see it's time. So, except if, Koune, there is a question you saw that you really want
00:59:30to answer, I suggest we answer the questions we couldn't answer today individually later after the
00:59:37webinar. And, yeah, and if you have other questions, feel free to contact me later on.
00:59:50Yeah. Thank you for your attention. Please don't forget that you can stay updated
00:59:55by following our LinkedIn page, by contacting us, by checking the webpage,
01:00:00and a lot of information will be released publicly in the coming months. So, stay tuned.
01:00:09Thank you very much, Koune, for the great, insightful presentation, and thank you,
01:00:13everyone, for all your questions. Unfortunately, we couldn't answer them all now, but
01:00:17it's great to see so much interest from all of you. So, I think I will wrap it for today,
01:00:26except if, Koune, you want to say some last words, but on my side, we can finish here.
01:00:35No? Okay. Thank you, everyone, and have a great rest of your day.