Environmental labelling for textiles and furnishings: where to start?

Introduction

To commit brands to the path of transparency and enable consumers to make informed choices, the introduction of environmental labelling has become one of the priorities of the Ministry of Energy Transition.

It will enable consumers to find out about the environmental impact of a product or service, and will take the form ofa score that customers will be able to find on all everyday products (on labels, for example).

To help you prepare for this new obligation and meet consumer expectations, we have prepared a series of articles on environmental labelling and how to anticipate the arrival of this new regulation.

To begin with, we'll take a look at the current methodologies and regulations. In future articles, we'll look at how to respond effectively to this new regulatory requirement.

Environmental labelling: a priority on the French regulatory agenda

What are the laws and regulations governing environmental labelling? 🧑‍⚖️

The environmental labelling initiative has been supported for several years by the French Ministry of Energy and the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME).

The development and implementation of environmental labelling has been a gradual process, based mainly on two pieces of legislation: the AGEC law (Anti-waste and circular economy) and the Climate and Resilience law.

Article 13 of the AGEC law, entitled "Consumer information on the environmental qualities and characteristics of waste-generating products", lays the foundations for environmental labelling*:

• Geographical traceability of the main production stages
• The amount of recycled material incorporated into the product
• Product recyclability... and much more.

💡 To find out more about the AGEC law in the textile industry, see our dedicated article here.

This information constitutes the first elements of a useful environmental display for consumers. They are then supplemented by Article 2 of the Climate and Resilience Act:

The Climate and Resilience Law was passed in 2021**.** Article 2 of this law specifies that the environmental display must inform about " the environmental impact of the goods and services considered over their entire life cycle. " It must take into account:

• greenhouse gas emissions,
• damage to biodiversity,
• consumption of water and other natural resources.

💡 Environmental labelling is not yet mandatory at European level. However, as part of the Green Deal, the Circular Economy Package (2022) seeks to meet two major objectives:

- push European companies to make products more sustainable
- strengthen environmental information for consumersThere is therefore every likelihood that regulations will evolve over the next few years at European level.

Which sectors are covered by environmental labelling? 👕

For the moment, environmental labelling is being introduced on a voluntary basis, but it is gradually becoming compulsory in the priority sectors of food, textiles and furnishings.

The regulatory obligation will then be extended to other business sectors, such as digital, household appliances, cosmetics, etc.

What will the environmental display look like? 😍

For consumers, environmental labelling will take the form of a grade (e.g. A, B, C, D or E) displayed directly on product labels or on companies' e-commerce sites.

The final format of this score is still under discussion within the working group. It will be based in particular on the environmental impacts of the product calculated using life-cycle analysis (CO2 emissions, impact on water pollution, etc.) and will have to take into account the following criteria (for textiles):

Here is an example of a prototype proposed by ADEME for the communication format:

💡 At European level, the PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) methodology has been proposed by the European Commission to define a common standard for all EU member states.
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It's therefore a safe bet that the French methodology is mostly based on the PEF methodology with a few adjustments.
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To find out more about PEF, find our specifically dedicated article here 🙌

When will environmental display methodologies be finalized? 📆

The objective set by the Climate Law is to have mandatory environmental labelling by 2026. For priority sectors such as textiles, food and furnishings, a gradual phasing-in is planned from early 2024.

For the textile sector :

Following the Xtex experiments of recent months, the Ministry of Energy Transition and ADEME are working on an updated methodology that will bring together the strengths of each proposal. A complete and operational environmental display system is scheduled for December 2023 for deployment of the regulatory card early in 2024. You will find below the detailed timeline proposed by the Minister:

For the furniture sector:

In the furniture sector, a working group led by the FCBA is currently revising the standard. The aim is to have an updated version of the standard by the end of 2023.

Mandatory implementation will be orchestrated by the Ministry once work on the textile and food sectors has been completed.

How to prepare for environmental labelling?

With the regulatory context becoming ever more pressing, more and more companies are preparing for the arrival of this new regulation. In this section, you'll find a reminder of the main objectives of environmental labelling and a few suggestions for getting started.

As specified in the French Climate Act, the main aim of environmental labelling is to inform consumers about the environmental impact of the products they buy:

1. over the entire life cycle
2. reliable and easy to understand
3. accessible at the time of purchase

Environmental labelling is therefore based on life cycle analysis (LCA), the first step in calculating a product's impact.

💡 What is LCA? Life cycle assessment or LCA is the reference methodology for evaluating the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. Today, it is recognized as the most advanced and scientifically robust methodology for implementing an environmental labelling approach.

To find out more about LCA, read our article here.

Regulatory methodologies are based on life cycle analysis, so it's a good idea to start measuring the environmental impact of your products today, by carrying out your first LCAs.

Does it make sense to embark on this approach when the methodologies are not yet fully finalized?

The answer is YES! The role of environmental display methodologies is to provide assumptions and average values to simplify the LCA process and save time.

Tools like Waro ensure that calculation methodologies and modeling assumptions are always in line with the latest regulatory advances.

To stay one step ahead of the regulatory timetable, we recommend that you get started on environmental labelling today.

Why take the plunge on environmental labelling today?

Performing your first life cycle analyses will enable you to :

• Easily identify the data to be collected for environmental labelling and build an appropriate deployment strategy
• Get an initial idea of the impact of your products on the market
• Test the impact on your customers of communicating this information
• Identify areas for improvement to reduce the impact of future collections.

So there's no excuse to get started as soon as possible 🤩

So what data needs to be collected? What tools are available, and how can environmental labelling be deployed across an entire product catalog? We'll explain it all in the next article in the series! 🔜

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WARO - an impact measurement tool to prepare for environmental labelling!

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