Carbon Labelling Trial Aims To Show Individual Products’ Footprint

Supermarket giant Tesco has never underestimated the task of reducing carbon, of which it is responsible for emitting a whopping 4.1 million tonnes annually. In the company’s own words: “this is an economy in which human comfort, activity and growth are inextricably linked with emitting carbon. Transforming it into one that can thrive without depending on carbon is a monumental challenge.”

Now, the company is to tell customers just how much carbon is emitted as a result of the production and use of the items they pick up off the shelves and take to the checkout. Tesco has, in October 2007, introduced a pilot project to label some 30 of its own-brand products with details of each items’ carbon footprints. Tomatoes and light bulbs, among others, will carry the labels detailing the carbon produced during its lifecycle, from its manufacture to use of the item and its packaging.

How the carbon emitted is to be measured and therefore what exactly will appear on the label is, as yet, unclear. What is certain is that the labels will contain a “universal, clear and easily understood measure of the carbon footprint,” according to a Tesco spokesperson.

In fact, the purpose of the project is, with the Carbon Trust, just how to to develop an accepted measure of the carbon footprint of every product sold. “The expertise of the Carbon Trust and its partners will be crucial here,” the spokesperson tells Low Carbon Innovation Bulletin. “The whole purpose of this project is to evaluate and quantify those challenges. It's one thing to develop a carbon label for a single product; putting in place the processes and systems that will eventually lead to labelling on all of the products we sell requires an entirely different approach,” says the spokesperson.

Tesco describes labelling as “one of the most important tools we will have in our efforts to reduce carbon emissions” and something Tesco considers “a huge step on the road to a genuine carbon currency.”

The initiative follows a similar scheme by Walkers crisps, Boots’ own brand shampoo and drinks company Innocent to add carbon footprint labels to items (see Issue 13, Low carbon Innovation Bulletin:http://www.carbon-innovation.com/LowCarbonBulletin13.htm).

Astoundingly, the company plans to eventually label each one of its 40,000 items. “We're not naïve about how long this will take – we're talking about years and not months – but it's important that we begin the journey,” says the spokesperson. For this reason the trial does not have an end date at present.

“We'll see how this trial turns out. While carbon labelling is key to our strategy, it's not the only plank by any means.” But it does fulfil one of Tesco’s many environmental goals, to “provide better information.”

Tesco has a massive raft of carbon reduction plans in stock, not least to achieve its aim of a 50% reduction in carbon from energy used in UK stores. Tesco plans to meet that goal by next year, two years ahead of schedule. And the company has also halved the cost of low-energy light bulbs, increasing the amount sold from two to 10 million in a year, and will plough more than £500 million into low-carbon technologies over the next five years.

Inevitably, the results of the labelling project will be slower to be realised than the bulk of carbon reducing initiatives and interestingly, will rely on customers making their own, informed ‘greener’ choice about their purchase. “We want to show leadership, we want to minimise our own carbon footprint and we want to offer customers the information and choices that will enable them to do the same,” says the spokesperson. “We don't really think any other position is compatible with our core values.”

What would Tesco advise a company planning a similar initiative? Simple. “Get cracking,” the spokesperson tells the bulletin, adding a warning: “involve yourself in the right partnerships.”

article in Low Carbon Innovation website


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