I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 848
To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to
establish a voluntary food climate labeling program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY31, 2025
Mr. C
ASTEN(for himself and Ms. BROWNLEY) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency to establish a voluntary food climate labeling
program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Voluntary Food Cli-4
mate Labeling Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. VOLUNTARY FOOD CLIMATE LABELING PROGRAM. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 7
(1) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of 8
the Environmental Protection Agency shall carry out 9
a voluntary food climate labeling program. 10
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(2) CONSULTATION.—The Administrator shall 1
establish and operate the labeling program in con-2
sultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and the 3
Federal Trade Commission. 4
(b) A
DMINISTRATION OFPROGRAM.— 5
(1) P
ROHIBITION.—A person manufacturing, 6
importing, distributing, or selling food may not place 7
the food climate label developed under subsection (c) 8
on the food or its labeling unless the Administrator 9
has authorized such person to do so under para-10
graph (3). 11
(2) A
PPLICATIONS.—An applicant shall submit 12
to the Administrator an application at such time, in 13
such manner, and containing such information as 14
the Administrator may require. 15
(3) R
EVIEW OF APPLICATIONS .—The Adminis-16
trator shall review all applications submitted under 17
paragraph (2) and approve any such application— 18
(A) on the basis of whether the applicant 19
provides assurances satisfactory to the Adminis-20
trator that the applicant will adhere to the re-21
quirements of the labeling program; and 22
(B) not on the basis of an assessment of 23
the benefits to the environment associated with 24
the food. 25
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(4) PLACEMENT OF LABEL .—If the Adminis-1
trator approves an application under this subsection 2
with respect to a food, the Administrator may speci-3
fy where on the food or its labeling the food climate 4
label shall be placed. 5
(c) D
EVELOPMENT OF FOODCLIMATELABEL.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 7
specify— 8
(A) the visual form of the food climate 9
label, as described in paragraph (3); 10
(B) the information to be included on the 11
food climate label, as described in paragraph 12
(4); and 13
(C) the method by which the information 14
to be included on the food climate label shall be 15
verified, as described in paragraph (5). 16
(2) C
ONSULTATION.—In specifying the visual 17
form, information to be included, and method for 18
verification referred to in paragraph (1), the Admin-19
istrator— 20
(A) shall consult with food industry stake-21
holders; and 22
(B) may perform such consultation— 23
(i) by establishing a Federal advisory 24
committee under chapter 10 of title 5, 25
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United States Code (commonly referred to 1
as the ‘‘Federal Advisory Committee 2
Act’’); or 3
(ii) through a negotiated rulemaking 4
under the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 5
1990 (Public Law 101–648). 6
(3) V
ISUAL FORM.—The visual form of the food 7
climate label shall— 8
(A) convey the information described in 9
paragraph (4) to the consumer in a manner 10
that is determined by the Administrator to be 11
most useful to the consumer at the point of sale 12
in making food purchasing decisions; 13
(B) not convey that any given food is ac-14
ceptable or unacceptable, but instead provide to 15
the consumer a numerical quantification of the 16
information described in paragraph (4); 17
(C) employ words, numbers, and imagery, 18
as specified by the Administrator; 19
(D) convey that the information on the 20
food climate label has been verified under re-21
quirements established by the Environmental 22
Protection Agency; 23
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(E) include a logo (or other identifier) to 1
help the consumer identify the food climate 2
label; and 3
(F) include a quick response code (com-4
monly known as a ‘‘QR code’’) or similar mech-5
anism that provides electronic access to the con-6
sumer at the point of sale to the information 7
described in paragraph (4)(B). 8
(4) I
NFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED .— 9
(A) L
ABEL.—The food climate label shall 10
include two numerical summaries of the best 11
available information regarding the total green-12
house gas emissions released throughout the 13
lifecycle of the food and its input materials as 14
follows: 15
(i) The first numerical summary shall 16
include the information on the greenhouse 17
gas emissions released during— 18
(I) the growing of ingredients; 19
(II) the manufacture of the 20
nonfood input materials; 21
(III) processing; 22
(IV) packaging; and 23
(V) distribution. 24
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(ii) The second numerical summary 1
shall include the information on the green-2
house gas emissions released during— 3
(I) storage; 4
(II) presentation in a retail food 5
establishment; 6
(III) consumer use, including the 7
energy used to store the food after 8
purchase; 9
(IV) end-of-life reuse, recycling, 10
composting, treatment, and disposal 11
of the food and its packaging; and 12
(V) any other aspect of the 13
lifecycle of the food and its input ma-14
terials. 15
(B) V
ALIDATION OF SUMMARIES .— 16
(i) V
ALIDITY OF FIRST NUMERICAL 17
SUMMARY.—The participant shall be re-18
sponsible for the validity of the numerical 19
summary required by subparagraph (A)(i). 20
(ii) V
ALIDITY OF SECOND NUMERICAL 21
SUMMARY.—The Administrator shall— 22
(I) be responsible for the validity 23
of the numerical summary required by 24
subparagraph (A)(ii); and 25
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(II) develop such numerical sum-1
mary in consultation with the partici-2
pant referred to in clause (i) and the 3
advisory committee established under 4
paragraph (2)(B). 5
(C) QR
CODE.—The QR code (or similar 6
mechanism) referred to in paragraph (3)(F) 7
shall provide access to the following informa-8
tion: 9
(i) If the food is subject to a vol-10
untary commitment under subsection (d), 11
an indication that such food is subject to 12
such commitment and a summary of the 13
information reported pursuant to such 14
commitment under such subsection. 15
(ii) The database established under 16
subsection (e). 17
(5) M
ETHOD OF VERIFICATION .— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator 19
shall specify the method by which the informa-20
tion included on the food climate label shall be 21
verified. Such method shall include— 22
(i) adhering to uniform standards for 23
the collection and analysis of such informa-24
tion; 25
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(ii) adhering to requirements for enti-1
ties (certified by the Administrator for 2
such purpose) to measure, monitor, verify, 3
and report such information; and 4
(iii) using the best available scientific 5
information. 6
(B) I
NTERNATIONAL STANDARDS .—In de-7
veloping the method under subparagraph (A), 8
the Administrator shall consider the established 9
international standards for carbon accounting 10
for product lifecycle assessment, including— 11
(i) the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 12
standards of the International Organiza-13
tion for Standardization; and 14
(ii) protocols established under the 15
Greenhouse Gas Protocol (commonly 16
known as the ‘‘GHG Protocol’’) program 17
of the World Business Council for Sustain-18
able Development and the World Resources 19
Institute, including— 20
(I) the GHG Product Life Cycle 21
Accounting and Reporting Standard; 22
and 23
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(II) Publicly Available Specifica-1
tion 2050 (commonly known as ‘‘PAS 2
2050’’). 3
(C) A
LIGNMENT WITH CURRENT BEST 4
PRACTICES OF FOOD INDUSTRY .—The Adminis-5
trator shall ensure that the method under sub-6
paragraph (A) is informed by, and generally 7
aligned with, the current best practices of the 8
food industry for validating the information in-9
cluded on the food climate label. 10
(d) V
OLUNTARYCOMMITMENTS.—Not later than 2 11
years after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad-12
ministrator shall establish a program under which a man-13
ufacturer, importer, distributor, or seller of a food bearing 14
the food climate label may, on a voluntary basis— 15
(1) make and report a voluntary commitment to 16
reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with 17
such food; and 18
(2) report sustainability information pertaining 19
to the food based on the best available scientific in-20
formation. 21
(e) D
ATABASE.—Not later than 2 years after the date 22
of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall estab-23
lish and make publicly accessible a database under an 24
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open license to provide consumers with easy access to in-1
formation pertaining to the labeling program, including— 2
(1) explanations of the objectives and the meth-3
odologies of the Administrator in developing the food 4
climate label and in specifying the visual form, infor-5
mation to be included, and method for verification 6
referred to in subsection (c)(1); 7
(2) the information described in clauses (i) and 8
(ii) of subsection (c)(4)(B) with respect to each food 9
in the labeling program; 10
(3) the voluntary commitments and sustain-11
ability information reported under subsection (d); 12
and 13
(4) as the Administrator determines appro-14
priate, any sustainability information pertaining to 15
food bearing the food climate label, based on the 16
best available scientific information. 17
(f) R
EPORTS.—Not later than 7 years after the date 18
of enactment of this section, and every 5 years thereafter, 19
the Administrator shall— 20
(1) publish a report on the labeling program’s 21
effectiveness in— 22
(A) providing consumers information that 23
consumers find useful; and 24
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(B) reducing the greenhouse gas emissions 1
associated with food throughout the lifecycle of 2
the food and its input materials, as described in 3
subsection (c)(4)(A); and 4
(2) submit to Congress a report containing any 5
recommendations for legislative action that would 6
improve the labeling program’s effectiveness in 7
achieving the objectives described in subparagraphs 8
(A) and (B) of paragraph (1). 9
(g) R
EGULATIONS.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 11
the date of enactment of this section, the Adminis-12
trator shall finalize regulations to carry out the la-13
beling program. 14
(2) U
PDATES.—Not later than 7 years after the 15
date of enactment of this section, and every 5 years 16
thereafter, the Administrator shall update the regu-17
lations for carrying out the labeling program to in-18
crease the labeling program’s effectiveness, as deter-19
mined by the Administrator with regard to the ob-20
jectives described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 21
subsection (f)(1). 22
(h) T
ECHNICALASSISTANCE.— 23
(1) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall 24
establish a technical assistance advisory board with-25
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in the Environmental Protection Agency to provide 1
technical assistance to— 2
(A) entities participating in or seeking to 3
participate in the labeling program; 4
(B) entities certified or seeking to become 5
certified under subsection (c)(5)(A)(ii); 6
(C) entities making a voluntary commit-7
ment or seeking to make such commitment 8
under subsection (d); and 9
(D) retail food establishments. 10
(2) C
OMPOSITION.—The technical assistance 11
advisory board under paragraph (1) shall be com-12
prised of subject matter experts and academics, 13
trade associations, consultants, leaders of the De-14
partment of Agriculture, and representatives of in-15
dustry and appropriate organizations. 16
(i) C
ONSUMEROUTREACH.—Not later than 3 years 17
after the date of enactment of this section, the Adminis-18
trator shall establish a program to inform consumers 19
about the labeling program by— 20
(1) providing retail food establishments edu-21
cational materials and other information to be con-22
veyed to consumers regarding the labeling program, 23
which materials and information shall display the 24
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logo (or other identifier) described in subsection 1
(c)(3)(E); and 2
(2) reaching the public through a wide range of 3
venues, including public service announcements and 4
advertising. 5
(j) P
ENALTIES FORFRAUDULENTUSE OFLABEL.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any person that violates a 7
requirement of this section shall be subject to a civil 8
penalty of not more than $10,000 for each such vio-9
lation. 10
(2) S
EPARATE VIOLATIONS .—Each separate 11
violation of a requirement of this section with re-12
spect to a given type of food shall be a separate of-13
fense, except that in a case of a violation through 14
continuing failure to obey or neglect to obey an 15
order by the Administrator under this section, each 16
day of continuance of such failure or neglect shall be 17
deemed a separate offense. 18
(3) E
QUITABLE RELIEF .—In a civil action 19
brought under this section, the United States dis-20
trict courts are empowered to grant mandatory in-21
junctions and such other equitable relief as such 22
courts deem appropriate. 23
(k) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 24
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(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-2
mental Protection Agency. 3
(2) A
PPLICANT.—The term ‘‘applicant’’ means 4
a person that— 5
(A) manufactures, imports, distributes, or 6
sells food; and 7
(B) has an application pending under sub-8
section (b) to participate in the labeling pro-9
gram. 10
(3) F
OOD INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDERS .—The 11
term ‘‘food industry stakeholders’’ means— 12
(A) entities that— 13
(i) grow, raise, process, prepare, man-14
ufacture, or otherwise add value to a food 15
product; 16
(ii) store, package, repackage, trans-17
port, or distribute a food product for 18
wholesale; 19
(iii) sell a food product directly to 20
consumers; 21
(iv) provide a food-related service to 22
entities that engage in any of the activities 23
described in clauses (i) through (iii); 24
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(v) measure, monitor, verify, and re-1
port the type of information to be included 2
on the food climate label under subsection 3
(c)(4); 4
(vi) represent consumers of food prod-5
ucts; or 6
(vii) study and analyze the food indus-7
try; and 8
(B) other relevant stakeholders, as deter-9
mined by the Administrator. 10
(4) G
REENHOUSE GAS.—The term ‘‘greenhouse 11
gas’’ includes— 12
(A) carbon dioxide; 13
(B) methane; 14
(C) nitrous oxide; 15
(D) sulfur hexafluoride; 16
(E) any hydrofluorocarbon; 17
(F) any perfluorocarbon; 18
(G) nitrogen trifluoride; 19
(H) any fully fluorinated linear, branched, 20
or cyclic— 21
(i) alkane; 22
(ii) ether; 23
(iii) tertiary amine; or 24
(iv) aminoether; 25
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(I) any perfluoropolyether; 1
(J) any hydrofluoropolyether; and 2
(K) any other fluorocarbon, except for a 3
fluorocarbon with a vapor pressure of less than 4
1 millimeter of mercury absolute at 25 degrees 5
Celsius. 6
(5) G
REENHOUSE GAS EMISSION .—The term 7
‘‘greenhouse gas emission’’ means the release of a 8
greenhouse gas into the ambient air. 9
(6) L
ABELING PROGRAM .—The term ‘‘labeling 10
program’’ means the voluntary food climate labeling 11
program established under this section. 12
(7) O
PEN LICENSE.—The term ‘‘open license’’ 13
means any legally binding instrument that grants 14
permission to access, reuse, and redistribute a work 15
with few or no restrictions. 16
(8) P
ARTICIPANT.—The term ‘‘participant’’ 17
means, with respect to food, the person authorized 18
pursuant to subsection (b) to place the food climate 19
label developed under subsection (c) on the food or 20
its labeling. 21
Æ
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