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[[Category:Eco-Score]]
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[[Category:Environment]]
 
== Introduction ==
 
== Introduction ==
 
In January 2021 the eco-score has been launched. The eco-score is a label that indicates the environmental impact of a product. It is based on the lifecycle of ingredients in a product and their relative impact. This impact has been assessed for the agricultural methods used in France.
 
In January 2021 the eco-score has been launched. The eco-score is a label that indicates the environmental impact of a product. It is based on the lifecycle of ingredients in a product and their relative impact. This impact has been assessed for the agricultural methods used in France.
    
Although the eco-score is based on France, OFF would like to extend the eco-score to other countries. This involves adding the country specific aspects for:
 
Although the eco-score is based on France, OFF would like to extend the eco-score to other countries. This involves adding the country specific aspects for:
* labels
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* [[Eco-score labels - en|labels]]
* packaging
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* [[Eco-score recycling - en|packaging]]
* logistics
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* [[Eco-score transport - en|logistics]]
    
In this document the logistic aspects are investigated.
 
In this document the logistic aspects are investigated.
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What should be the road cutoff distance? This is the distance above which by sea is more advantageous (economically). Eurostat (figure 4.12, p62) gives an average of 200 km for food products. Interestingly, food products prefer the road for longer distances (figure 4.25, p72). It is clear that road is a less used option when going further away (figure 4.13 (p63)).
 
What should be the road cutoff distance? This is the distance above which by sea is more advantageous (economically). Eurostat (figure 4.12, p62) gives an average of 200 km for food products. Interestingly, food products prefer the road for longer distances (figure 4.25, p72). It is clear that road is a less used option when going further away (figure 4.13 (p63)).
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==== Cutoff distance =====
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==== Cutoff distance ====
 
A cutoff distance of 2000km will be used for the moment. However more input on this number is needed. It might be interesting to see for each country, how many extra-country producers there are. And how far thos extra-country producers are away.
 
A cutoff distance of 2000km will be used for the moment. However more input on this number is needed. It might be interesting to see for each country, how many extra-country producers there are. And how far thos extra-country producers are away.
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For each of the area's on the ''Centroid-worksheet'' a row and a column is created in the ''Container port worksheet''. In addition two columns that document a port have been added: one column is a link the wikipedia-page of the port and one column is a link to the port authority of the port.
 
For each of the area's on the ''Centroid-worksheet'' a row and a column is created in the ''Container port worksheet''. In addition two columns that document a port have been added: one column is a link the wikipedia-page of the port and one column is a link to the port authority of the port.
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Each cell that links to ports shows the maritime distance between the two ports, as calculated by [https://www.searates.com/services/distances-time/ Searates].
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Each cell that links to ports shows the maritime distance between the two ports, as calculated by [https://www.searates.com/services/distances-time/ Searates] (black).
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Ports that are not listed in Searates (or could not be found) have been taken from Shiptraffic. This requires conversion from nautical miles to kilometres (light green 1)
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Some (landlocked) countries share ports. In that case the distances are linked, either between rows of the same port (light red 1) or between columns (orange).
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There are many maritime routes that use the same sea passages, such as the Gibraltar straits. Instead of looking up all the routes in [https://www.searates.com/services/distances-time/ Searates], it is easier to look up the distances to a port on the strait and just copy the corresponding data. Only for the water basin behind the strait we need to do the lookup. The distances obtained via these strait ports have been coloured.
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This can be done for:
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* Baltic sea <-> North Sea : Copenhagen port (cornflower blue)
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* Black sea <-> Mediterranean : Istanbul port (cyan)
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* Adriatic sea <-> Mediterranean / Durres port (cornflower blue)
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* Mediterranean <-> Atlantic Ocean / Algeciras (Gibraltar) (cyan)
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* Mediterranean <-> Red Sea / Damietta (purple)
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* Great Ocean <-> Atlantic Ocean / Panama (green)
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For some ports there are some exceptions to the rules described above:
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* Faroer (Tórshavn) - is only supplied through Reykjavik and Helsingor (Denmark). The distances are calculated by the distance to Copenhagen plus 1870 km.
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* Svalbard (Longyearbyen) - is only supplied through Tromsø (Norway. The distances are calculated by the distance to Oslo + 1695 nautical miles.
    
==== Maritime Route matrix worksheet ====
 
==== Maritime Route matrix worksheet ====
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The impact is normalised in order to calculate the score.
 
The impact is normalised in order to calculate the score.
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==== Export matrix worksheet ====
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This worksheet shows the scores as used by OFF and are setup such that they can easily be imported. Instead of the country names the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-2 ISO 3166-2] codes are used. Rows and columns are alphabetically sorted on these codes. Each cell contains a formula to extract the data from the '''Score matrix worksheet'''.
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Adding a new country can be done by:
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* inserting a column in the right (alphabetical) location;
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* linking the header of the new column to the corresponding row header;
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* copying a formula from an existing cell to all the rows of the new column;
    
==== Update Procedure ====
 
==== Update Procedure ====
 
The spreadsheet has been designed with updating in mind. Several type of updates might occur. It is described what should be done in each case.
 
The spreadsheet has been designed with updating in mind. Several type of updates might occur. It is described what should be done in each case.
===== Distances =====
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# Data
===== New origin territory =====
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# New origin territory
 
Origin territories are encoded as rows. A new territory needs to be inserted in EVERY worksheet. Start with the centroid worksheet. Find the right row where the new territory should be put underneath. The right row is the country where the territory belongs to. After this is done for all worksheets, the data can be filled in. This has been described above.
 
Origin territories are encoded as rows. A new territory needs to be inserted in EVERY worksheet. Start with the centroid worksheet. Find the right row where the new territory should be put underneath. The right row is the country where the territory belongs to. After this is done for all worksheets, the data can be filled in. This has been described above.
    
Note that if an origin territory has multiple sea ports, then a separate row for each port has to be created.
 
Note that if an origin territory has multiple sea ports, then a separate row for each port has to be created.
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===== New purchase territory =====
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# New purchase territory
 
Purchase territories are encoded as columns.
 
Purchase territories are encoded as columns.
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=== Olives niçoises ===
 
=== Olives niçoises ===
The ''olives niçoises'' is a small black olive variety that comes from the region around Nice (or so they say). They are my preferred ones. What is the transport bonus for these olives. Well if you liven in France there a bonus score of 100, wherever you live in France, even if you live 1200 km away. However if you live 10km in Monaco, the score is 62. All thanks to the logic of eco-score.
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The ''olives niçoises'' is a small black olive variety that comes from the region around Nice (or so they say). They are my preferred ones. What is the transport bonus for these olives. Well if you liven in France there a bonus score of 100, wherever you live in France, even if you live 1200 km away. However if you live 10km away in Monaco, the score is 62. The reason for this difference is the fact that the size of the respective countries are not taken into account. A [[Country correction]] is needed.
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=== Impossible maritime routes ===
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The maritime distances have been calculated with Searates. This site also shows any available shipping companies or the corresponding route. For many of the distances there is no available shipper. Probably one has to ship via another port to each the required destination. This will make the shipping distances longer. And it requires more work to find the shortest (cheapest) shipping route.
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=== Best or worst estimate ===
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There are two choices in calculating the transportation impact: the best estimate and the worst estimate. The best estimate uses the distances between country centroids, so that the calculation is valid for the majority of users. The worst estimate uses the longest distance between the outskirts of a country. In fact this worst calculation is now used for the calculation of the EU.
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The rationale behind the worst estimate, is that we would like the producers to give more information on their supply chain (where is the factory? where are the ingredients come from?, etc), so that there is more transparency.
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=== Individualised ecoscores ===
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The Ecoscore is in some extent an individualised score: it depends on the location of the consumer. In the official explanation this fact is hidden, but it is based on the assumption that the consumers lives/consumes in France.
    
== Adjustments ==
 
== Adjustments ==
 
OFF could add some minor adjustments to the transport score calculation, in order to better reflect the locally produced theme. These adjustments follow the eco-score calculation approach, but add some details.
 
OFF could add some minor adjustments to the transport score calculation, in order to better reflect the locally produced theme. These adjustments follow the eco-score calculation approach, but add some details.
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=== Production countries ===
 
=== Production countries ===
 
The eco-score does not seem to take into account that the production of a product might take place in another country. Instead of looking at the origin of the ingredients, we can now assume that all the ingredients come from the production country.
 
The eco-score does not seem to take into account that the production of a product might take place in another country. Instead of looking at the origin of the ingredients, we can now assume that all the ingredients come from the production country.
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=== Country correction ===
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Each country should have a standard transport score, which depends on the country size. The smallest country size should have a transport score of 100. Scaling should be based on country size and normalisation size (2000km). The centroid calculations give a good indication for country sizes.
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=== Smaller Normalisation ===
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The normalisation is currently based on 2000km. This is very large. The consequence is that even large distances get a favourable bonus. And it is not possible to distinguish between small and slightly larger countries. A normalisation of 1000km would given better results. It would also allow to distinguish the bonus between French regions (+14) and departments (+15).
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=== Transport malus ===
 
=== Transport malus ===
 
The current transport corrections only allow to add a bonus. However this bonus is calculated using transport distance (currently 2000km by road). This implies that some destinations might result in negative scores. These are no cutoff to a bonus of zero. The negative scores could be retained and applied.
 
The current transport corrections only allow to add a bonus. However this bonus is calculated using transport distance (currently 2000km by road). This implies that some destinations might result in negative scores. These are no cutoff to a bonus of zero. The negative scores could be retained and applied.
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The eco-score calculation is based on countries. As some countries are very big, any transport in such a country might be seen as greenwashing. Also it makes comparison between countries impossible.  
 
The eco-score calculation is based on countries. As some countries are very big, any transport in such a country might be seen as greenwashing. Also it makes comparison between countries impossible.  
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Instaead of using countries as smallest entity, one could use territories of a country as smallest entity. For France this would mean the Régions, for Germany the Länder, etc. If the purchase and production location fall within a single territory, the bonus score would be 100. Any transport between territories would imply a lower bonus score.
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Instead of using countries as smallest entity, one could use territories of a country as smallest entity. For France this would mean the Régions, for Germany the Länder, etc. If the purchase and production location fall within a single territory, the bonus score would be 100. Any transport between territories would imply a lower bonus score. This might be offered as an option to a user, who wants to be more transportation conscious.
    
If both the purchase and production location are not known, we could fall back to the country based eco-score. If either the purchase or the production location is unknown, we can make the assumption that the it is in the most populous territory and calculate the eco-score based on this.
 
If both the purchase and production location are not known, we could fall back to the country based eco-score. If either the purchase or the production location is unknown, we can make the assumption that the it is in the most populous territory and calculate the eco-score based on this.
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Need an example to see what the effect would be. For instance purchasing a Camembert in Nice, etc.
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This idea can be explored a bit further. The first step is that we need to know the territory of the user. Then we have the following three situations:
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# Producer in the same territory - this will result in a score of 100 and thus a maximum bonus;
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# Producer in another territory - the distance between the territory centroids determines the distance used in the score calculation;
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# Producer in another country - the centroid distance between the consumer territory and the centroid of the country is added to the standard calculation;
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A sample calculation with the Olives Niçoises (producer in department Alpes-Maritimes, région PACA):
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* Standard:
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** consumer in France: score = 100 (0 km);
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** consumer in Germany: score = 62 (769 km);
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* Territory:
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** consumer in région PACA: score = 100 (0 km);
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** consumer in région Hauts de France: score = 52 (966 km);
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** consumer in department Somme: score = 45 (1110 km), using Alpes-Maritimes;
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** consumer in Germany: score = 25 (722+769 km)
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** consumer in Bavaria: score = 7 (722+769+366 km)
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The effect of the location of the consumer can be well seen.
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=== Distances ===
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It also possible to look at the various [[transportation distances]] outside the context of the ecoscore.
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