In the context of global warming, as well as international agreements signed up to by the European Union (EU), reducing carbon emissions across Europe has become a priority for EU Institutions. Currently a number of possible policy measures are being considered. Even though the EU Commission is not yet raising this issue publicly, magazine publishers could be affected two-fold:

(1) The EU considers influencing consumers’ behaviour by putting advertising regulation in place. The aim is to require advertisers to highlight certain aspects of the environmental performance of their product, such as carbon emissions. The most obvious example is car advertising, currently being discussed in the EU Parliament (see article on car advertising). Following the debates in the Parliament, the EU Commission will come up with a more concrete proposal on this issue in mid 2008.

(2) Any product sold in the EU should indicate its carbon emissions – magazines included. If this obligation - as is currently developed at member state level (ie. France) or by the market itself (ie. UK) - becomes EU legislation, magazine publishers will have to be able to provide their readers with information about their carbon emissions, often known as a “carbon footprint”. The EU Commission is discussing a new form of an “ecolabel” for this purpose. An outline of the EU Commissions intention is expected in the near future.

To be better prepared for these future threats, FAEP (European Federation of Magazine Publishers) and FIPP have launched an international platform for publishers to exchange experiences and knowledge on the carbon footprint of magazines. Furthermore, FAEP initiated almost two years ago the Print Media Group in Brussels, a platform for all EU representations of industries along the paper value chain, now coordinating the carbon footprint for the paper value chain. Only with this kind of grassroots’ work, will FAEP be able to influence EU policy in favour of our sector.

Source: FAEP