Life Eco Food Choice: Environmental Data & Ecolabeling for Sustainable Food Choice
Life ECO FOOD CHOICE was born of the shared ambition of researchers to develop and harmonize environmental labelling on a European scale. The project, financed by the LIFE program, brings together 8 European partners from Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, with researchers and companies who are experts in their fields: agricultural production, data, LCA, consumer sciences, etc. The initiative also aims to create a framework for discussion open to all: countries, companies or NGOs wishing to make progress in harmonizing environmental labelling on a European scale. The ultimate goal is to present the European Commission, by 2028, with an environmental display system that has been validated and recognized by a wide range of stakeholders. The work of this project thus offers a crucial opportunity to stimulate European collaboration for more sustainable food practices.The three main pillars of the Life ECO FOOD CHOICE project
To achieve this ambitious goal, the LIFE project has set itself a number of specific objectives, which are grouped into three main work streams:
- 1. Construction of European databases: The project will develop a harmonized methodology for life-cycle inventories of food products in Europe, with the aim of creating robust environmental databases for food products.
- 2. Development of methods and tools: Building on French work, the aim is to develop a standardized method for aggregating life cycle inventory scores and translating them into an environmental score that takes into account all the environmental impacts of food products.
- 3. Display format and testing: We plan to test an environmental display in real-life conditions, involving experiments in supermarkets, canteens and online platforms in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. These tests will help assess the impact of labelling on consumer purchasing behaviour and on farmers' practices.
Research programme at Goettingen University
Goettingen University coordinates Work Package 4 on the validation of market effects. This work package focuses on effects on both the consumer and the farmer side. Our consumer research is designed in close collaboration with our colleagues from INRAE who have scientifically backed the French label proposal. University of Goettingen will work closely with the Catalonian retailer Amettler Origén, both on the live testing with consumers as well as on engaging farmers with improved practices.
Figure 1: Work program for consumer research (Source: Own representation)
The farmer-related impact validation requires in first instance to capture the status quo of sustainability-related supplier management programs at the level of food processing companies.
Based on best practices identified through case study research, supplier programs for the reduction of environmental impacts will be developed. Farmer-supplier focus groups will be established and used to iteratively shape the programs. In the second half of the project, the developed programs will be tested and evaluated.
Figure 2: Work program for farmer research (Source: Own representation)
Project consortium
The project is coordinated by the French Agency fo Ecological Transition, ADEME. Work packages are coordinated by IRTA (WP2), Wageningen University Research (WP 3), and Goettingen University (WP4). Further partners include corsus Corporate Sustainability GmbH (GER), INRAE (FR), Beta (ES), and the Catalonian retail company Amettler Origén.
