Environmental labelling: understanding the latest updates to the French system

On March 8, 2024, after several months of consultation, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and ADEME presented the methodology of the environmental display scheme for the textile sector.

Objectives of Environmental Labeling for Textiles :

As a reminder, Environmental Labeling (EL) aims to inform consumers about the environmental impact of the products or services they consume. Using a "numerical value", it makes it possible to reflect the impact of different products on the market, and thus to

• Help consumers make informed purchases with more information on the environmental impact of products
• stimulate eco-design in product development
• Reducing the sector's environmental impact

Like price, which reflects the "financial cost" of products, Environmental Signage aims to reflect the"environmental cost" of a product. This index can be a value ranging from 0 to infinity. The higher the value, the greater the environmental cost.

The aim of this display is to be legible, educational and consistent with the European Product Environmental Footprint framework.

The French methodology will therefore be based on the basic foundation of the PEF: life cycle analysis with its 16 impact indicators.

However, as these 16 indicators do not adequately take into account all the environmental impacts desired by the government, the French system has been updated with several additional criteria to meet the limitations of v.1.3 of the Apparel & Footwear PEFCR.

Complementary criteria to the French methodology

Export outside Europe" supplement

In the PEF circularity formula, 100% of textiles sold are considered to be managed locally for their end-of-life. In reality, a significant proportion of these garments are exported outside Europe at the end of their life cycle (around 50%).

The French methodology has therefore added this complement to take into account the impact of these garments ending up as waste. Depending on the type of garment, end-of-life scenario probabilities have been defined.

Example:

For a pair of jeans (450g), the end-of-life impact goes from 0% of the product's total impact to :

4% for 100% cotton jeans

12% for 100% synthetic jeans

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A microfiber complement

The second addition concerns the impact of microfibers on a product's life cycle.

These fibers are found in water, air and soil pollution, and are emitted throughout a product's life cycle (manufacture, use and end-of-life). At present, this criterion is not taken into account in the PEFCR A&F.

There are 2 key parameters to take into account when considering the impact of microfibers:

Release: a fiber's ability to release microfibers into the environment during its life cycle.

Persistence: a fiber's ability to degrade in the environment.

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More on sustainability

The final addition concerns the inclusion of a garment's durability in the calculation of its impact.

There are two types of sustainability:

• the garment's physical durability
• emotional sustainability

Physical durability is set at 1, and therefore has no influence on the impact calculation for the time being. The study carried out as part of the PEFCR A&F project is still in progress and will be taken into account in the French methodology at a later date.

For "emotional" durability, an index ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 has been defined to take it into account, and to modulate a product's useful life. The higher the index, the more durable the product, and conversely, the lower the index, the closer the product is to fast fashion.

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This index is based on 5 criteria:

• the width of the range
• time to market
• type of material: synthetic, natural...
• repair incentives
• display of traceability information

This index then modulates the overall environmental cost of a product.

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Database updates :

The database has been updated to take better account of the specific features of the textile industry. The methodology is based on Ecoinvent and textile industry studies, to ensure the same coverage as the EF3.1 Product Environmental Footprint database.

Things to remember :

The database is more comprehensive on key textile processes:

• Better coverage of the impact of raw materials and processes
• The energy mixes of the countries where the textile industry is produced have been refined.

More precise data :

• Enrichment of finishing processes (toxicity and ecotoxicity indicators)
• Possibility of accessing disaggregated processes to refine available data and avoid the use of average data (which are often overstated).

Example: the possibility of specifying the quantity of pesticides used in the production of raw materials.

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