Labels showing a product's carbon footprint should be displayed on goods and services to help consumers tackle climate change, according to an influential committee of MPs
Louise Gray, The Telegraph 23 Mar 09;
Some foods are already displaying "carbon reduction labels" alongside the ingredients to show how much of the greenhouse gas was produced in the manufacture of a product.
However a report from the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said a proliferation of different environmental labels are confusing for consumers and allow companies to appear more eco-friendly than they actually are in a method known as "greenwash"
The committee wants a robustly monitored system of environmental labels to show the impact of each product, including labels showing the carbon emissions produced, so that consumers can make a more informed choice.
Colin Challen, a member of the committee, said it was essential goods display carbon content if consumers are to help the UK meet its target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
"Given the challenge we face in decarbonising the economy, the committee believes carbon labelling may prove the single most important environmental measure in promoting behavioural change at home, at work and in business," he said.
Euan Murray, general manager of the Carbon Trust, the Government-backed body in charge of helping business cut greenhouse gases, has been piloting a Carbon Reduction Label with Tesco, Walkers Crisps and Pepsi among other businesses.
"The Carbon Reduction Label means that a company has measured the carbon emissions from every stage of the lifecycle of its product," he said.
"Consumers can then make choices about a product or service, and understand the impact that their decisions will have on climate change. And the UK will make bigger steps towards Government's carbon emission reduction targets as a result."
Shoppers need clear labels to put a stop to 'greenwash'
Nicholas Watt, The Guardian 23 Mar 09;
Tough standards on labelling should be enforced by the government to clamp down on "greenwash", in which companies exaggerate the environmental credentials of their products, a Commons committee recommends today.
A universal scheme, with independent verification, should be introduced because the "proliferation of labels" was confusing consumers, according to MPs on the Commons environmental audit committee.
The problem of greenwash has been highlighted in recent years after the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) censured a series of high profile companies for making misleading claims about the environmental impact of their products.
A complaint against Shell, which ran a newspaper advert depicting its refinery chimneys emitting flowers, was upheld by the advertising watchdog. Friends of the Earth complained about the advert, which ran with the slogan: "Don't throw anything anyway. There is no away."
MPs on the committee call for a series of changes to improve environmental labelling. These include:
• Enforcing a new labelling scheme by law that would include independent monitoring.
• Giving greater powers to trading standards officers and the ASA to act when companies make "inaccurate and misleading" claims.
• Forcing car dealers to display EU information on vehicle performance.
Colin Challen, the Labour chairman of the environmental information sub-committee, said: "The government has to act to deal with the problem of greenwash. Clear labels are needed to help consumers make informed choices but for consumers to have confidence in them, environmental labels must be backed up by independent monitoring that is fully verified."
The new universal system must be flexible. Challen said: "The environmental choices a consumer makes buying shampoo are different to those they make when buying a car. Whatever we are buying, more needs to be done to make clear the environmental choices we each make whenever we choose one product over another.
"An effective environmental labelling regime will also generate the kind of market signal needed to trigger a transformation in business activities all the way down the supply chain of a particular product. This kind of action is vital if we are going to decarbonise the UK economy."
The ASA annual report last year said claims that products and services were carbon neutral, zero or negative were often open to challenge, as were statements claiming products to be 100% recycled or "wholly sustainable".
