Commission wants to scrap 'throw-away' culture

Monique Goyens, director-general  of the European consumer organisation (BEUC) urged the retail forum to deliver on its promises. "We don't like self-regulation for the sake of delaying regulation," she said, hoping the forum would not be a mere "talk show" and that retailers "use their power on producers" and withdraw unsustainable products from shelves.

Meanwhile, Goyens argued that the primary responsibility for SCP lies on consumers themselves, when choosing to buy strawberries in December or buying a second car in a city, for example. She also noted that some eco-innovations may be somewhat ambiguous as, for example, a washing powder that enables cleaning laundry at 30 degrees may well use less energy, but "it also contains more active chemicals". In addition, a product can have very low CO2-intensity, she pointed out, but consume a lot of water, thus making marketing claims more difficult.  

As for different product labels, "consumers are confused and objective information is not easily available," she deplored. Carbon labelling, for instance, is not an easy message to understand and may turn consumers away from good products due to confusing information. 

Meanwhile, Goyens said BEUC was "happy with the energy label," because "consumers understand what it means". She said BEUC would also like to make current eco-labels more visible and see eco-design applied to all energy-related products, not just energy-using ones. 

"We might think that in the context of climate change we simply need to consume less to be sustainable, but that is not economically viable, as we still need the jobs to keep the economy rolling," Goyens said.  

Gianni Ciserani, president of Procter & Gamble's Western European arm, said sustainable consumption and production is about reducing the footprint of manufacturing and logistics operations, as well as about social responsibility. To cut its logistics footprint, P&G is aiming to increase rail and inland water transportation of its products to get more trucks of the road, for example, he explained. 

Positive about the overall greening efforts, he noted that "sustainability is not a fashion for one year, but a long-term goal that will not be affected by the economic crisis". 

Dominique Reiniche, president of Coca-Cola Europe, stressed the need "to grow business, not carbon" and "co-create new solutions together". While competitors should compete for the sake of consumers, they should also collaborate "when greater good is at stake," she added. She also noted that packaging, for example, can be considered "not as waste but as a resource" and that her company already promotes recycled plastic in its bottles. 

Jean-François van Boxmeer, CEO of Heineken, said his company had already cut by half the amount of water needed to produce a litre of beer, from 10 to five litres. It is also promoting sustainable barley farming, with a special focus on Africa.