The French 2021 Climate and Resilience Act introduced an Eco-labelling display on food products to inform consumers about the environmental cost of their purchases. Among these, impacts on biodiversity are difficult to grasp in a comprehensive manner. This book addresses this issue by focusing on the production practices of a sample of voluntary food standards covering products from agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries.
It summarises the main findings of a study carried out by a multidisciplinary scientific committee at the request of French ministries and agencies involved in the Eco-labelling policy. The studied sample illustrates the diversity of food standards: public or private, national or international, cross-cutting (organic farming, for example) or specialised in a particular sector (soy, fish, etc.).
Since there is limited scientific literature linking standards to impacts on biodiversity, the authors analyse the practices identified in each standard’s specifications. In addition, they focus on their institutional design (creation of the standard, control, accreditation, traceability) as well as the regulatory and socio-economic context that helps guarantee the effectiveness of the standards’ commitments.
Finally, three ways of aggregating biodiversity scores are explored, with the aim of contributing to the construction of the environmental labelling policy.
This analysis is addressed to decision-makers and local authorities, professionals in the agricultural, aquaculture and fishing sectors, and anyone interested in food systems and their environmental impact.