Environmental labeling in B2B and the inclusion of a sustainable development clause in supplier contracts

Wednesday October 14, 2009, 9AM-12PM

1-    Why and how to put a carbon footprint on an intermediate industrial product

• Is this labeling required by contractors?
• How to show the carbon footprint (form, placement, optimization…)? Are there norms to be respected (and which allow for the carbon data of the intermediate product to be included in the footprint of the end product)?
• What other information about environmental protection must be shown?
• What kind of checks do buyers carry out (if any)?
• Does environmental labeling represent a quantifiable competitive advantage?  

2-    How to introduce a sustainable development clause in supplier contracts

• How can you ask suppliers to commit to sustainable development objectives and give this commitment a contractual nature?
• What should these objectives be? Should it only include the carbon footprint of the concerned products?
• What procedures can be brought in to monitor data? Should monitoring be included in the contract? Should this be performed by an external company? Who should pay for it, the contractor or the supplier?
• What could the legal weight of a sustainable development clause be? Could or should non-respect of the clause be a cause for resiliating a contract?