2a G Adriaenssens Sust Cons

Slide 1: Comparative Testing for Sustainable Lifestyles CI World Congress, Sydney 2007

Slide 2: Content • Who and what is ICRT? • Why publish comparative tests? • How to include criteria related to sustainability? • Limitations and challenges?

Slide 3: What is ICRT? • ICRT is an international consortium of consumer organisations that carry out joint research and testing • Non profit company limited by shares • Only consumer organisations can be shareholders

Slide 4: Who can be member of ICRT? Consumer organisations that carry out consumer research and testing provided that they: – act exclusively in the interest of consumers – do not take advertising in their magazine – are independent of commerce, industry and political parties – are not influenced by subsidies, sponsorship or incentives – capable of carrying out a minimum level of testing activity and publishing the results

Slide 5: ICRT Members • Germany, UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, USA • Austria, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Russia • Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, India, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore • Brazil, Chile

Slide 6: Aims of ICRT  Increase the cost effectiveness of testing and research.  Develop common test programmes and evaluation methods.  To avoid publication of contradictory reports on the same product.  Help smaller organisations to develop testing  To provide a legal framework for joint testing with established rules and guidelines.

Slide 7: Some figures • Secretariat with 10 members of staff • 40 big joint tests per year • 10 continuous tests • 150 smaller joint tests • Use around 60 laboratories • Spend around € 6 million per year • Test around 5 000 products

Slide 8: Why publish comparative tests? • They confront the buyers with a real choice based on objective criteria • Gives clear information on what can be improved • Influence the behaviour of companies through the buying choices of the consumers • Consumers are willing to pay for this “golden” information, indicating a clear need

Slide 9: What criteria to include in a test? • Traditional test includes: – Performance – Convenience – Safety – Durability – Energy consumption – Environmental criteria (since late 70s) • New since 2000: – Ethical criteria

Slide 10: What criteria to include in a test? • Recent trends: – More emphasis on environmental aspects • Recycling • Use problematic materials • Stand by energy and total energy consumption • Life cycle analysis – Social Responsibility criteria • Social criteria • Transparency

Slide 11: Examples of Methods used in CSR research • Research and analysis of information in the public domain • Questionnaires to be completed by companies • Anonymous calls and letters • Company meetings or visits • Factory visits and audits • Interviewing employees • Peer review

Slide 12: Examples of references used in CSR research • Universal Declaration of Human Rights • International Labour Organisation • OECD Guidelines • Rio declaration and Kyoto protocol • SA 8000 • UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection • Global Reporting Initiative • Global Compact

Slide 13: Advantages of comparative testing • Name and blame bad products • Promote better products • Put strong pressure on the manufacturers • Better coverage by the media • Compile real data that become strong weapons for our lobby departments

Slide 14: Examples of recent achievements • Dramatic reduction of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) in DIY products and tyres in 1 year • Reduction of standby energy from 100 to less than 1 Watt in most products • Reduction of water and energy consumption of large household appliances by more than 50% • Accepting CSR criteria by manufacturers increased from 40% to 80% in 3 years

Slide 15: Comparative CSR research • Toys Publication had a huge impact on the behaviour of the importers/manufacturers • Pharmaceuticals Publication was used successfully by CI for campaigning • Clothing Retail Chains Publication impacted directly on the market

Slide 16: Upcoming research for 2008 • Parquet floors and wooden floors • Electronic waste • Energy use Christmas illuminations • Fire works (labour conditions) • Kitchen material • Banks • Tea • TVs • Cotton products • Washing machines

Slide 17: Limitations and challenges • Input side – Not all consumer organisations are convinced that CSR research is a valid task for them – CSR Research is very expensive – Need for strong coordination in order to avoid contradictory results – Struggle on how to publish: included into specific product rating or not – Complexity of the issues: not easy to summarize into ratings

Slide 18: Limitations and challenges • Output side – Limited interest of readers (average scores) – Risk of generalisation – Difficulty of changing behaviour • The challenge is the integration of sustainability criteria as a real aspect of the quality of a product

Slide 19: Possible criticism on comparative testing • Pushing to increased consumption? • Do ethical issues not overrule all the other criteria? for discussion….

Slide 20: Thank you for your attention Guido Adriaenssens Sydney, 30 Oct 2007