I’ve been pretty occupied recently – I’ll get back to making this blog a bit fuller as soon as possible.

It’s progress of a sort anyway: the insurance company MACIF, with a reputation (rightly or wrongly) for a sense of social responsability, has decided to encourage householders to install environmentally friendly equipment such as solar water heaters, photovoltaic panels and even wind turbines.

Since the 7th April 2008 these items can be insured as part of a normal household insurance policy – a first in France for the moment. Loans at rates from 2.95% are also available for the purchase of such items.

If you have a place in France (and speak some french!) check their sustainable development site for home-owners : http://www.mon-toit-et-moi.com/ If french is not your forté they have 535 agencies dotted about and someone is sure to be able to help out! Alternatively, ask your usual insurer – nothing like customer pressure to move things along!

The Bureau de Vérification de la Publicité (loosely: “Advertising Standards Watchdog”) is an industry body involved in setting voluntary standards over and above legal minimum requirements. Anybody can complain to it about any advertising and a recommendation may be issued. Given the importance of advertising in both encouraging consumption and contributing (via packaging and junk mail etc.) to the generation of waste it is inevitable that some environmental standards are expected from the sector.

It is not therefore surprising to hear that they have produced their own Chart for the Environment setting out new rules of conduct which take the findings of last year’s “Grenelle de l’Environnement” into account. The Chart was signed on the 11th of April 2008 by M. Jean-Pierre TEYSSIER, Chairman of the BVP, in the presence of M. Jean-Louis BORLOO, Minister of Ecology Energy Sustainable-Development and Planning, and M. Luc CHATEL, Secretary of State for Industry and Consumption.

This is a different Chart to the one established with ad agencies in the Aquitaine Region (this blog April 16 ) – a Chart for the Environment is fast becoming a necessary badge in the business world!

According to the press release the BVP’s Chart is based on three central engagements:

1. a reinforcement of the industry-imposed rules;
2. a systematic process of advice before diffusion whenever an environmental aspect is present;
3. an annual report on all advertising disseminated.

However, the signing of the Chart follows close on the heels of a controversy surrounding an advertising campaign intended to promote waste reduction at source by taking to task companies who make insufficient effort to reduce product packaging. This campaign was prepared by the inter-municipal waste management organisation of Châtelets, Brittany. The BVP issued recommendations against the campaign and was criticised for this by “the media”.

The BVP had already responded to these criticisms in a release on the 8th of April stating among other things that they were advising the advertiser on points of law: it is illegal in France to openly criticise a brand or an industry as such in an advert. Apparently some of the consumer items in the adverts initially proposed were too recognisable! According to the BVP the ads were able to be diffused after certain changes had been made. 

The BVP also took the opportunity to raise the question of accuracy for certain claims made in favour of the environmental benefits of certain practices: for example drinking tap water rather than bottled water. The bottled water/tap water debate in France has yet to be fully staged; for now this area is full of contradictions!

The French Agency for Health and Safety of the Environment and Workplace (afsset) has just released a report on the health effects caused by the noise of wind turbines (over 100 pages, it’s going to take a while ti digest!).

One particular recommendation is to avoid having a statutory distance between a wind park and other uses. The authors of the report suggest a detailed study of the conditions prevailing at a particular site is always necessary.

More later!

The third stage of an operation by the ADEME, the regional government of Aquitaine and the professional association of advertisers, Apacom, to encourage sustainable practices in the world of communication has come into being in the form of a Chart for the Environment.

The Chart, signed so far by five advertising agencies, consists of ten engagements on aspects such as reducing pollution during distribution, reducing the environmental impact of products, and (remarkably) taking into account the social impact of adverts’ messages.

Agencies also engage in an educational and advisory role for both clients and society at large.

Previous stages in this operation included awareness raising by a ”Best Practice Guide”, conferences, technical training and the cooperation of a consultant specialised in Eco-Design.

The five signatories so far are the agencies Aggelos, Adeline Derry Voisin, Inoxia, Calli Atlantique and Rebus. So if you want Green advertising in France you know who to Google!

That at least is the overall tenor of a report by the independent social research agency CREDOC. The report (N° 210 march 2008, in French here : http://www.credoc.fr/index.php) notes that since the oil shocks of the ’70s industry has made significant energy economies but these have not been followed in the average household.

The study shows a continued increase in total energy use in buildings (as apart from factories etc). The residential part of this is consumption is 70 % (with 15 % for public administration, schools and hospitals and 15 % commercial offices). Although energy use per household has only increased by about 8 % since 1973 (after correction for seasonality and increases in the average size of dwellings) the decrease in the number of persons per dwelling indicates that consumption per person continues to increase despite government awareness raising campaigns.

The average french person consumes about 0.9 tep (tonne equivalent petrol) per year at home. More than 70 % is for heating, 13 % specifically electric, 10 % for water heating and 5 % for cooking.

Between 1986 and 2003 the average temperature of homes increased from 19°C to 21°C and in addition the use of electricity in “comfort” uses (lighting, washing machines …) increased >85 % per m² between 1973 and 2003.

All this shows, according to the report, that consumer behaviour is strongly comfort oriented. Other studies by CREDOC in the field of “recycling” behaviour show that general awareness raising is not enough and public policy needs to be oriented towards “structuring consumer behaviour” to have any impact at all.

A further study of potential energy economies in a household of two indicates that an average 196 € per year of saving could be possible. The study comments that this saving, made up of many small changes in behaviour over a year, is not sufficient incentive to have a large impact on household energy efficiency.

Monsieur Dominique BUSSEREAU, secretary of state for transport, has received the 2007 report of the Airports Noise Control Authority (ACNUSA). He claimed to be surprised at some of the “polemical” demands contained in it suggesting instead that the report itself shows that a lot of progress has been made since the “Grenelle de l’Environnement” of 2007.

As evidence of progress he cited an increase in the level of the airport tax (TNSA) destined to finance insulation for dwellings near the airports of ORLY and NANTES-ATLANTIQUE. This increase should enable the backlog of subsidy claims to be cleared over the next two years. In addition the tax will be modulated for flights between 1800h and 2200h to take into account the nuisance felt in the evening.

M. BUSSEREAU also announced measures to increase the altitude of flights in the Paris region, starting the 8th of May with the (relatively minor) airport of BOURGET. He claims this will reduce the noise nuisance to local residents by half.

The Secretary of State said he would study the propositions in the ACNUSA report. These include among others:

• a definitive epidemiological study over 5 years on the health effects of airport noise; this has apparently been planned with the ministry of health but has not been included in budget plans;
• a review of town planning and other regulations in order for the cost of noise nuisance reduction to be shared by municipalities that get the economic benefit of airports on their territory and not just those in the surrounding areas;
• that money from fines levied on companies who fail to respect environmental noise control measures should be put towards the grants for sound insulation;
• purchase of the worst affected dwellings;
• better coordination, suburb by suburb starting with the worst cases, of sound insulation work in order to generate economies of scale.

(Sources: Ministry press release and ACNUSA website)

AXA Insurance, with the technical help of the environment agency ADEME and the national assembly of chambers of commerce, has established a programme to help small businesses reduce the environmental impacts of their activity. The programme, 1,2,3 environnement, is aimed at businesses with fewer than 250 employees and follows on from similar prevention programmes organised by AXA : fire, health and safety, etc.

The overall objective is to inform small business directors of the many legal responsibilities and obligations they face, often unknowingly, and to encourage them to organise an incremental, step by step, environmental management system (ISO 14001 or EMAS).

A big advantage of the scheme is the financial added value of an insurance contract that will take progress in this area into account, an important incentive for smaller businesses. The ADEME has identified smaller businesses as a key target area for sustainable development.

So what was so controversial in this first reading? The two main sticking points seem to have been (as often the case) the possibility of coexistance of GM and non-GM crops in the same zone and the question of labelling.

The draft law proposes that cases of contamination by GM crops of neighbouring fields of non-GM or organically grown crops should be eligible for compensation payments. This is unsatisfactory for Greenpeace and other anti GM groups. It has been accepted in several scientific reports that contamination is possible at much greater distances. In addition, compensation would only be payable if the level of contamination exceeds 0.9%. This is the same as the European labelling requirement.

Amendments were inserted to protect important natural areas such as those on the fringes (or within) national parks but even in these situations a unanimous decision by all the farmers concerned would be necessary for GM crops to be banned from the area. It has been pointed out that it is unlikely to be difficult for a GM seed company to persuade one farmer to block such a decision.

The labelling question turns on the permissible level of GM material in a product. Last year’s “Grenelle de l’environnement” established a right to produce and consume without GM. Greenpeace and others point to a detection level of between 0.01% and 0.1% and say that to be without GM the contamination should be undetectable using current methods. 

Secretary of State for Ecology, Madame Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, gave a public apology to two ministerial colleagues just ten minutes after being asked to do so by the Prime Minister, Monsieur Fillon, or “take the consequences”. In an article published in Le Monde newspaper on Wednesday the 9th april she had accused colleagues Jean-Francois Copé and Jean-Louis Borloo of participating in a competition of cowardice and “inelegance” on the topic of the Law on genetically modified organisms (OGM in french) currently before the parliament.

M. Copé, parliamentary leader of the majority UMP party, had earlier accused Mme. Kosciusko-Morizet of being the “source of the problems” the majority is facing in the form of ammendments from the opposition. He implied Mme. Kosciusko-Morizet in reality approves of these ammendments.

M. Jean-Louis Borloo was President Sarkozy’s choice to head a super ministry bringing together responsabilities for the environment, energy, transport, sustainable development, and urban / regional planning amongst others. Though logical in terms of “sustainability” this combination has not been without its critics.

Mme. Kosciusko-Morizet has been seen as an exceptionally capable young rising star of the present administration, combining tact and organisational competence with a thorough understanding of the issues involved and an ability to talk to environmental associations in their own terms. This last point has recently lead to some UMP members suggesting she is too sympathetic to anti-GM voices. Similarly some UMP members imply that others of their group are too sympathetic to the GM seeds lobby.

The whole progress of the current law through parliament is bringing out these tensions prompting the harsh demand from M. Fillon in order to avoid embarrassing splits. Mme. Kosciusko-Morizet quickly complied but the turn around has been seen by some as a public humiliation.