Which tools can you use to publish the environmental costs of your products?

Introduction

Since October 2025, France’s textile environmental labelling framework has provided a regulated methodology for communicating the environmental impact of products. Published environmental costs will be based on the methodology developed by Ecobalyse and applied consistently across all textile products.

This shift raises a central question: which tools should brands use to calculate and publish these scores reliably, consistently, and at scale?

In theory, the process seems straightforward: collect data, apply the methodology, submit the score to ADEME, and make it visible to consumers. In practice, however, the challenge is much broader: structuring product and supplier data that is often scattered, incomplete, or hard to verify—before calculating environmental costs at scale and integrating them into your e-commerce experience.

Today, brands can rely on three main approaches, each with its own level of ambition, operational effort and ability to support industrial-scale deployment.

1. Calculating environmental costs manually using internal tools

Many brands begin here: using data already available in their internal systems (PLM, ERP, PIM, material libraries, BOMs) and applying the Ecobalyse documentation step by step.

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Access the official documentation here: https://fabrique-numerique.gitbook.io/ecobalyse

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While this method may appear accessible, it requires significant work. Each calculation involves:

• Identifying all data required by Ecobalyse (material, knitting/weaving, dyeing, manufacturing, packaging, transport, country of origin, precise weight, etc.);
• Assessing whether your internal data is complete and compatible with Ecobalyse formats;
• Reaching out to suppliers when information is missing (often the case for upstream stages such as spinning or dyeing);
• Choosing between real data and the conservative default values provided by ADEME;
• Manually entering all required parameters for each product.

This approach has three major limitations:

1. It is extremely time-consuming, especially during the first iterations;
2. It carries a high risk of error, since internal data is rarely structured consistently;
3. It is nearly impossible to scale to catalogues of several hundred products.

In short: manual calculation works if you want to test the methodology or train your teams, but not if you need to publish environmental costs at scale.

2. Using ADEME’s Ecobalyse platform directly

ADEME’s public tool allows you to enter products one by one into the official simulator.

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Access the simulator here: https://ecobalyse.beta.gouv.fr/versions/v7.0.0/#/textile/simulator

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This tool ensures:

• Strict application of the regulatory methodology;
• Full transparency on assumptions;
• Immediate access to ADEME’s recommended default values;
• The ability to save your calculations directly on the platform.

It is an excellent way to familiarise yourself with the environmental labelling framework, test different scenarios for a given product, and verify the consistency of your assumptions.

However, the platform was designed as a pedagogical and exploratory tool, not an industrial solution. As such, it presents the same limitations as the manual method:

• One-by-one product entry;
• Heavy reliance on default values if your real data is not structured;
• The need to develop your own connectors to integrate it with internal tools;
• No automation for missing data collection or score updates.

Using the Ecobalyse simulator directly can work for a small catalogue or for a pilot project. But for annual, seasonal, or continuous publication, it quickly becomes too complex.

3. Using a specialised platform

The third, and only truly scalable approach, is to rely on a platform dedicated to environmental labelling and product/supplier data management.

These solutions cover the entire process, from data collection to score publication. They enable brands to:

Structure and enrich product data

Specialised platforms connect to your internal tools (ERP, PLM, PIM, supplier databases), identify missing environmental-impact data, and request it automatically from the relevant suppliers.

They standardise data, apply consistency checks, eliminate duplicates, and ensure that all information used in the calculation is traceable and reliable, which is essential in case of audits.

Automate Ecobalyse calculations

The Ecobalyse methodology is integrated directly into the platform’s calculation engine.

Whenever a product is updated or a supplier provides new information, the score can be recalculated and automatically reflected on your product pages.

Centralise evidence

Every data point can be linked to supporting evidence: material declarations, certificates, invoices, location proofs, etc.

This is a critical requirement: any information used to calculate a product’s environmental cost must be provable if authorities request it.

Submit scores automatically to ADEME

Platforms connected to the ADEME portal allow brands to transmit scores without manual entry, reducing errors and streamlining publication.

Prepare for future regulatory requirements

A specialised solution also helps you centralise data to meet existing and upcoming obligations, such as:

• The AGEC law,
• The ESPR, including the upcoming Digital Product Passport,
• Eco-modulations.

This makes it a long-term investment that extends well beyond the calculation of environmental costs.

How to choose the right solution?

Three key factors will guide your choice:

Your product volume

The number of references you manage is one of the most decisive criteria.

Manual methods are workable for a few dozen products but become unsustainable beyond 80 to 100 references, where individual entry, corrections and seasonal updates consume excessive time.

The larger your catalogue, the more essential automation becomes to manage volume and reduce human error.

The maturity of your data

Ecobalyse calculations rely on technical, logistical and supplier data that must be reliable and structured.

If your information is scattered, inconsistent or stored across multiple tools without alignment, you face a higher risk of gaps, duplication and incoherence—all of which directly affect score quality.

A specialised platform creates significant value by centralising data, applying consistency checks, identifying missing elements and linking each data point to verifiable proof. This ensures reliable, repeatable and compliant results, particularly as regulatory expectations evolve.

Your communication ambitions

Your objectives also influence your choice:

• Pilot or minimum compliance: internal tools or the Ecobalyse platform can be sufficient to test the methodology and publish a handful of scores.
• Enhanced visibility, QR codes, e-commerce integration, comparisons, long-term monitoring: you will need a tool that automates calculations, documents evidence and publishes scores at scale.

In summary, if your objective is occasional or exploratory, your internal tools combined with Ecobalyse are sufficient.

If you aim to deploy environmental labelling continuously, structure your communication, or manage significant volumes, a dedicated platform becomes essential.

Conclusion

Publishing the environmental cost of your products is not just a technical step: it is a process that engages your organisation, the quality of your data, and your ability to collaborate with suppliers over time. Manual approaches help you explore the methodology and experiment with Ecobalyse, but they quickly show their limits when managing a full catalogue, updating scores regularly, or ensuring season-to-season consistency.

Specialised platforms offer a more sustainable answer: they automate calculations, structure information, centralise evidence and make publication seamless. Most importantly, they provide an evolving framework capable of supporting future regulatory requirements and rising consumer expectations.

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