The carbon reduction consultancy, Sustain, provides an interesting overview of carbon footprinting development in France. According to its briefing paper, from July 1st 2011, a national experiment will be carried out for at least one year, to inform consumers through environmental labelling. This experiment will be the subject to an assessment and extended by parliament if appropriate. It will involve displaying the carbon footprint of products on sale across all sectors, incorporating both products that are manufactured and consumed in France and products that are imported into the country for consumption. The voluntary scheme is part of a wider programme to:

• Include an environmental component in consumer purchasing choices to support behavioural change.
• Provide the entire production and distribution chain with new indicators to encourage better eco-designed products.
• In the long term, there will be a requirement to consider not only the equivalent impact in terms of CO₂ throughout the lifecycle of a product, but also the most significant specific impacts of each type of product too. For example, a washing powder will be required to display its biodegradability capacity.

Unlike existing labels, this display is not intended to be selective: all products will eventually be required to display the requisite environmental information but the commercialisation of products will not be conditional on the value of these indicators. On this particular point, this new labelling is comparable to the existing system used for the nutritional characteristics of food (calories, protein, carbohydrates, etc.). In addition to the direct issue of consumer information and support for behavioural change, this environmental display also represents a competitive element for businesses. It will encourage them to reduce the environmental footprint of their products and their organisations. Consequently, it will also enable them to increase their resilience against variations and increases in energy costs and growing pressures regarding raw materials. A new pilot project that will see the carbon footprint label introduced on products in France begins in July 2011. For more information see here. (You need to register your details before downloading the briefing paper.)