Environmental labelling for food: what's changing?

Choosing food isn’t always easy. Labels, claims, origin, sustainability promises – the information isn’t always clear or comparable. Since the 2009 Grenelle Law, France has been working on a solution: displaying the environmental impact of products, alongside their price.

Revived in 2021 through the Climate and Resilience Law, the initiative has now entered an active phase. A technical consultation is underway until September 2025, led by the ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition) and the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, in collaboration with a committee of experts [including OFB (French Biodiversity Agency), INRAE (France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment), AgroParisTech and the Joint Research Centre]. The aim is to define a transparent, science-based method that works for both professionals and the public.

Two clear objectives:

• Help consumers make better-informed choices, across all products available in supermarkets
• Encourage producers to improve their practices and engage in eco-design

A life cycle–based environmental score

The concept is simple: give each product an environmental score based on its full life cycle, from raw materials through to use. The approach draws on the European Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method.

But the current PEF method doesn’t yet go far enough in addressing certain challenges – biodiversity, for instance. To improve this, the committee of experts has proposed key adjustments.

Putting biodiversity back in the picture

Two major updates are being considered:

• Rebalancing environmental indicators: ecotoxicity would carry the same weight as climate change in the final score. Human toxicity indicators, seen as unreliable, would be excluded

• Adding concrete agricultural indicators: five ecosystem service factors are being considered to reflect more sustainable farming practices:

1. Field size: smaller plots are more likely to feature buffer zones that benefit biodiversity
2. Hedgerow length: hedges provide habitats, prevent erosion and store carbon
3. Crop diversity: diverse crops tend to be more resilient to pests and disease
4. Livestock density: combining plant and animal farming is good for the land – as long as livestock numbers are kept in check
5. Permanent grassland: carbon storage, biodiversity support, and landscape preservation all come into play

These factors sit outside the standard life cycle framework but help better reflect real-world ecosystem impacts.

Summary diagram of the environmental cost calculation method for agri-food products

This calculation method is currently based on comparative studies of French organic and conventional production. Ongoing work, in partnership with other labels, aims to expand and enrich the dataset used.

A common tool: Ecobalyse

To help businesses test and simulate scores, a free, open-source online platform is under development: Ecobalyse. It allows users to model a product’s environmental footprint.

The tool currently covers the food and textile sectors. Other categories, like furniture and transport, will be added in time.

The goal is to offer a shared technical baseline to support more responsible production and encourage eco-design efforts.

Co-built with professionals

To ensure the tool can be used easily, the method is being developed with input from industry stakeholders. A simplified version – known as Level 1 – will be released first, using generic data. It will help businesses adopt the approach more quickly.

Levels 2 and 3 will follow, with more detailed data and tailored calculations, supporting ongoing improvements.

What next?

The consultation period runs until autumn 2025. In the meantime, all current resources – including Ecobalyse, guidance and supporting material – are available on the dedicated website. The tool itself is online and free to try.

Professionals can join a Mattermost channel to take part in discussions. A Word file is available to submit feedback and suggestions. Several technical webinars have already been recorded and are available for replay. Two more are scheduled for September, covering packaging and transport.

This French-led project is designed to align with a future revision of the EU’s Product Environmental Footprint method from 2026.

Alizé Baranger, LCA & Eco-Design Consultant