Carbon Labelling – Just a Load of Hot Air?

Yesterday I picked up a packet of cheese and onion Walkers crisps. It had a little symbol on it, with an arrow and 74g of CO2.  To be honest, it didn't really impact my choice of crisp, but it did make me feel a little bit better whilst I ate them.

Carbon labelling is a relatively new phenomenon. Probably the best known brands that have taken up the challenge are Walkers crisps, Boots Botanics range and Innocent drinks.  However, these endeavours to date are only a drop in the ocean of millions of products that could potentially be carbon labelled.

Tesco have taken things a step further.  Last year it announced plans to measure the carbon footprint of all its products, some 70,000 of them.  This means that Tesco (or more to the point, its suppliers) need to evaluate the CO2 used in the production, transport and possibly from the use and even disposal of all those products - no mean feat.

This seems like an awful lot of work if the public doesn't understand - or care about it. Our research indicates that only a third (34%) of the general public told us they would like to see information on ‘the impact on climate change of making and transporting the product' when considering whether or not to buy.  And only a little more (38%) claim to understand what the term "carbon labelling" means.

Consumers may not be focussed on carbon labelling as such, but a massive 84% tell us that they feel it is important that retailers do more to reduce the impact on climate change from making and the transporting their products.   So consumers care, though our research suggests they want retailers and manufacturers to take care of these things for them.

Beyond demonstrating a commitment to address climate change, there are reasons of substance for retailers to pursue carbon footprint measurement. The process to assess a product's carbon footprint helps manufacturers identify carbon intensive hot spots, to reduce these and in most cases make resulting environmental and cost savings.

This approach isn't without its sceptics.  It is a complex, time-intensive and therefore expensive affair to measure carbon footprints, not least in tracking the impact throughout complex supply chains.  To make things worse, at present there is no single and consistent way of measuring products' carbon footprint and methods vary not only from country to country, but also from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Work to date by the Carbon Trust to create a standardised measurement has been progressive, and they are heading towards a published standard this summer, an important step forward.  But the Carbon Trust obviously don't act in isolation, and one of the clear messages from our research among experts is that collaboration between the big retailers and manufacturers and the sharing of best practice is essential if a single standard is to be established and consistently used.  Nobody wants to see a repeat of the nutritional labelling debate, where different organisations developed different communications mechanics, much to the consumer's confusion. 

Is it worth the effort?  Maybe only a third of consumers currently want to see information about a product's impact on climate change, but I suspect this will increase as displaying this sort of information becomes more mainstream, as is the case with nutritional labelling.  As one of our experts put it:

"It puts in front of the customer's eyes another reminder of the importance of the issues and how seriously people are taking it.... The carbon labelling is probably not going to drive vast amounts of product switching. But it may make the public more ready in future for public policy changes that will be needed."

The sceptics may have a point that a blanket approach to the labelling of all products simply is difficult and there's an argument that the effort could be used to better effect elsewhere.  But in my view Tesco should be applauded for showing commitment from the top and aiming high.  No doubt challenging targets make for high achievement, however uncomfortable the journey. And perhaps someone needs to start making life uncomfortable if we're ever to realistically address the looming climate crisis.  The general public does have a sense of this: two-thirds agree that ‘we're all going to have to seriously alter the way we live our lives and purchase products if the planet is to be saved'.

Ipsos MORI's Reputation Centre has conducted thought leadership research on sustainability issues in the retail sector, comprising research among the on-line British public and among experts in the fields of retail and sustainability.

Further information or a copy of the ‘Sustainability Issues in the Retail Sector' is available from Helen Lamb, +44 (0)20 7347 3346, Helen.lamb@ipsos-mori.com