Carbon emission label
Encyclopedia
A carbon emission label or carbon label describes the carbon dioxide
emissions created as a by-product of manufacturing, transporting, or disposing of a consumer product
. This information is important to consumers wishing to minimize their ecological footprint
and contribution to global warming
made by their purchases.
embodied in a product and was first introduced in the UK in 2006 by the Carbon Trust. Examples of products featuring their carbon footprint are Walkers
Crisps, Kingsmill bread, British Sugar, Cemex cement, Marshalls paving and Quaker Oats, which have all used the label. One of the biggest supporters of carbon labelling is Tesco
, who have labelled a range of products including washing detergent, light bulbs, oranges, milk and toilet paper. HBOS
feature it on their online bank account.
The Carbon Trust label also requires companies to commit to reduce the embodied carbon in the labeled product or they lose the right to feature the label. An independent panel is currently verifying the process alongside Defra and the British Standards Institute BSI
and a new standard PAS 2050 is due to be introduced in mid-2008. As of August 2009, Defra is undertaking a radical rethink of the food industry on issues of security and sustainability, among many things proposing a green labelling scheme for food products.
The CarbonCounted label started in January 2007. It uses a live carbon supply chain to determine the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to bring a product to market. This third party certified system, based on an open standard, eliminates the need for heavy auditing and guess work associated with values determined when using isolated accounting methods. This also addresses how to consistently and fairly apply the smaller details such as the heating, cooling, lighting etc. in the shops the products are sold in.
Another label initiative started in spring 2008 in Switzerland
. The independent association climatop labels the most climate friendly products with their label «approved by climatop». In contrast to the label of Carbon Trust, this label does not indicate the carbon footprint of a specific product, it labels those products out of a comparable group of products with a remarkably lower carbon charge. As a rule of thumb, products have to be at least 20% better as other products from the same category. Therefore life cycle assessment
s or the products are calculated by independent offices, and the calculations are reviewed by a third party. Beside the fact that it has to be proven that those products have a lower climate charge, the products also have to fulfil several environmental and social standards. Examples of labeled products can be found at the Swiss retailer Migros
, such as an organic fair trade sugar from Paraguay
, recycling
kitchen towels or laundry detergents. This approach has been shown to influence customer purchasing decisions .
Japan
announced carbon footprint labelling scheme in 2008. The labels appeared on dozens of items including food and drink starting in April 2009, providing detailed breakdowns of each product's carbon footprint under a government-approved calculation and labeling system.
carbon footprint of consumer products sold in the state.
In July 2009, Wal-Mart
announced an environmental labeling program for its products. The intent is to create over the next five years a universal rating system, that scores products based on how environmentally and socially sustainable they are over the course of their lives. Wal-Mart’s goal is to have other retailers eventually adopt the indexing system.
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
emissions created as a by-product of manufacturing, transporting, or disposing of a consumer product
Consumer product
A consumer product is generally any tangible personal property for sale and that is used for personal, family, or household for non-business purposes. The determination whether a good is a consumer product requires a factual finding, on a case-by-case basis...
. This information is important to consumers wishing to minimize their ecological footprint
Ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to...
and contribution to global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
made by their purchases.
Existing programs
The world's first carbon label, the Carbon Reduction Label, shows the carbon footprintCarbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...
embodied in a product and was first introduced in the UK in 2006 by the Carbon Trust. Examples of products featuring their carbon footprint are Walkers
Walkers (snack foods)
Walkers is a British snack food manufacturer operating mainly in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland and to a lesser extent on the European continent. They are best known for manufacturing crisps. They hold 47 per cent of the British crisp market...
Crisps, Kingsmill bread, British Sugar, Cemex cement, Marshalls paving and Quaker Oats, which have all used the label. One of the biggest supporters of carbon labelling is Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
, who have labelled a range of products including washing detergent, light bulbs, oranges, milk and toilet paper. HBOS
HBOS
HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group having been taken over in January 2009...
feature it on their online bank account.
The Carbon Trust label also requires companies to commit to reduce the embodied carbon in the labeled product or they lose the right to feature the label. An independent panel is currently verifying the process alongside Defra and the British Standards Institute BSI
BSI
BSI is a three letter acronym that can stand for:* Backside illumination, a type of digital image sensor* The Baker Street Irregulars, a fictional group featured in Sherlock Holmes stories* Banca della Svizzera Italiana* Bentley Systems Inc....
and a new standard PAS 2050 is due to be introduced in mid-2008. As of August 2009, Defra is undertaking a radical rethink of the food industry on issues of security and sustainability, among many things proposing a green labelling scheme for food products.
The CarbonCounted label started in January 2007. It uses a live carbon supply chain to determine the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to bring a product to market. This third party certified system, based on an open standard, eliminates the need for heavy auditing and guess work associated with values determined when using isolated accounting methods. This also addresses how to consistently and fairly apply the smaller details such as the heating, cooling, lighting etc. in the shops the products are sold in.
Another label initiative started in spring 2008 in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. The independent association climatop labels the most climate friendly products with their label «approved by climatop». In contrast to the label of Carbon Trust, this label does not indicate the carbon footprint of a specific product, it labels those products out of a comparable group of products with a remarkably lower carbon charge. As a rule of thumb, products have to be at least 20% better as other products from the same category. Therefore life cycle assessment
Life cycle assessment
A life-cycle assessment is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from-cradle-to-grave A life-cycle assessment (LCA, also known as life-cycle analysis, ecobalance, and cradle-to-grave analysis) is a technique to assess environmental impacts...
s or the products are calculated by independent offices, and the calculations are reviewed by a third party. Beside the fact that it has to be proven that those products have a lower climate charge, the products also have to fulfil several environmental and social standards. Examples of labeled products can be found at the Swiss retailer Migros
Migros
Migros is one of Switzerland's largest enterprises, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It co-founded Turkey's largest retailer, Migros Türk, which became independent of Migros Switzerland in 1975....
, such as an organic fair trade sugar from Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, recycling
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
kitchen towels or laundry detergents. This approach has been shown to influence customer purchasing decisions .
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
announced carbon footprint labelling scheme in 2008. The labels appeared on dozens of items including food and drink starting in April 2009, providing detailed breakdowns of each product's carbon footprint under a government-approved calculation and labeling system.
Proposed programs
California state representative Ira Ruskin sponsored a carbon labeling bill—the Carbon Labeling Act of 2009—in the California state legislature, which has been voted out of the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources. The act would require the State Air Resources Board to develop and implement a program for the voluntary assessment, verification, and standardized labeling of thecarbon footprint of consumer products sold in the state.
In July 2009, Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
announced an environmental labeling program for its products. The intent is to create over the next five years a universal rating system, that scores products based on how environmentally and socially sustainable they are over the course of their lives. Wal-Mart’s goal is to have other retailers eventually adopt the indexing system.
External links
- Carbon Label
- The CarbonNeutral Company
- CarbonClear
- ClimateCare
- Carbon Trust
- CarbonCounted.com
- Co2balance
- climatop
- Carbon Reduction Institute
- Carbon Labeling Act of 2009, California, United States
- Walmart’s labeling scheme will be costly, but will it be effective? Two views.
- Customer response to carbon labelling of groceries