RE: DESIGN
The Carbon Trust’s label features on a range of products
“Using eco labels is a positive solution. It is not telling a consumer they can’t do something or stop doing things. But it is saying they can do it with confi dence”
“We can clearly show that labelling increases product
preference and that the brands which carry those labels then have a higher level of credibility around their environmental credentials and that builds brand diff erentiation and brand loyalty.” He adds that it is not just the public which take an interest in this and many products with the Carbon Footprint label are sold on the business to business market.
The Carbon Trust developed its own certifi cation scheme and label which communicates carbon reduction achievements to the customer. A product can display the label if it has undergone the rigorous certifi cation process to determine a its carbon footprint. It is a project which should not be undertaken lightly and can take several years to get the data together. Despite this, a lot of hard work is being undertaken as the label is currently displayed on 28,000 stock keeping units. Products which carry the label include: SilverSpoon sugar, Quaker Oats and Pepsi.
“It is a label which follows certifi cation. Our
certifi cation goes to a publically available, globally recognised internationally developed standard. This is a very rigorous, very diff erent and very specifi c approach to measurement – it is quite diffi cult to achieve,” Messem says.
He adds: “What you see is that three quarters of people say that it is important that an organisation demonstrates its social responsibility and its environmental credentials and not only do they
50 RETAIL ENVIRONMENT | JUNE 2013
demonstrate it they prove it. A lot of work we do on product carbon footprint certifi cation is to enable organisations to accurately measure their greenhouse gas emissions and to show that they have measured them appropriately.”
Tesco had originally planned to equip all of its products with carbon footprint labels and began the painstaking process in 2007. But less than fi ve years later in 2012 the supermarket giant dropped this pledge due to the sheer volume of work involved and the lack of take-up by other retailers. Looking forward, Messem says he believes the eco
label market will continue to expand. “I think we will go through a period of proliferation and then the market will consolidate and stall around those labels which do two things: one is they are for issues the consumers, retailers and producers generally care about and two is that the label is underpinned by transparent and robust methodology,” he concludes.
Energy One label which is unlikely to disappear any time soon is the energy effi ciency label for white goods, which is required under EU law. It is found on washing machines, tumble dryers, fridges and freezers, dishwashers, electric ovens, air conditioning units and energy saving light bulbs. The ratings range from A (or A+++ for fridges and freezers) for the most effi cient products to G for the least effi cient, based on energy consumption.
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