EU to consider CO2 labelling for products

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EU environment ministers have asked the European Commission to find ways of calculating carbon footprints and assessing environmental performance of products throughout their life cycles. But the idea has attracted fierce criticism from industry.

Last week’s Environment Council (4 December) requested a study as part of its on the Commission’s action plans on sustainable consumption and production and sustainable industrial policy (SCP).

Overall, ministers welcomed the Commission’s proposal as a potential means of speeding up the creation of “a safe and sustainable low-carbon and resource-efficient economy that is capable of competing successfully in global markets,” through a combination of voluntary and binding measures designed to mitigate the energy consumption and environmental impact of products.

They asked the EU executive to conduct a study estimating the impact of inserting a carbon footprint for products into existing EU environmental labelling instruments, including the eco-label and energy labelling, and to develop common voluntary methodologies for its calculation.

Earlier proposals by EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas regarding a ‘carbon label’ to indicate the amount of CO2 emitted during the manufacture of a given product were strongly criticised by the food industry and consumer groups alike (EurActiv 29/10/07).

Based on the Integrated Product Policy (IPP), the EU executive was also asked to develop a means of evaluating the overall environmental performance of products throughout their life cycles, including the supply chain and their impact at global level.

The ministers reaffirmed their support for the development of common EU measures to promote green public procurement, but underlined that it would first be necessary to reduce the current fragmentation of incentives across the internal market. This could be done, for example, by setting common, non-binding green public procurement modalities, such as “selection criteria, technical specifications, award criteria or contract performance clauses that could serve as a reference for public procurement,” they stated.

The Commission is expected to assess the implementation of the SCP action plan by 2012, to provide guidance on widening of the scope of the Eco-Design Framework Directive to other product types.