CIAA, the Confederation of the food and drink industries of the EU, today welcomed the adoption of the ‘Guiding Principles on voluntary environmental assessment and communication’ at the Plenary of the European Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Round Table (RT).

This development marks an important step forward in the work undertaken by the RT, which has progressed according to the timeframe agreed a year ago by its members. Members’ agreement on the 10 Guiding Principles is fundamental to the development of a harmonised framework methodology for the voluntary environmental assessment of food and drink products along the food chain from farm to fork and subsequent communication thereof.

The CIAA has been a founding member of the RT since its inception in 2009 and plays an active role in the work undertaken by this new initiative. Today, the RT groups together a total of 23 European organisations from across the entire food chain, working together in partnership with the European Commission (several Directorates-General) and the support of the UNEP and EEA.¹. NGOs and Member States are also contributing to its work by providing input and expertise.

Speaking following the adoption of the 10 Guiding Principles at the RT Plenary meeting, Pascal Gréverath, Nestlé, Assistant Vice-President for Environmental Sustainability and Chair of the CIAA Environmental Sustainability Committee, commented:

“Today’s adoption of the ‘Guiding Principles on voluntary environmental assessment and communication’ marks a very positive move towards the creation of a harmonised approach for the voluntary assessment of the environmental impact of a food product and communicating this information to other players in the food chain – both businesses and consumers.

Going forward, EU food and drink manufacturers will continue to play a leading role in the work of the RT, actively working in partnership with our colleagues from other parts of the food chain to ensure that we deliver on the key objectives we set ourselves a year ago under this process. We hope that in the future, we will secure greater levels of participation among members of the NGO community in our work and continue to build on the positive collaboration currently in place among the RT and several EU Member States as well as other similar initiatives outside the EU’’.

1 United Nations Environment Programme and the European Environment Agency.

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