LONDON (ICIS)–Consumer goods companies
increasingly decide to communicate product
environmental impact to consumers in a form of
a carbon footprint product label.
Unilever recently
announced the introduction of Carbon Labels
on 70 000 products. On pack labels will show
the quantity of greenhouse gas emitted in the
process of manufacturing and
shipping products to consumers. The
company plans to reduce carbon emissions from
its own and suppliers’ operations to zero by
2039.
Unilever announcement coincides with
L’Oreal pledge to gradually roll out
environmental and social impact labelling
for its products by 2030. These efforts
will be coupled with actions focused on
greenhouse gas emissions reductions of its
products and across its operations.
Some companies such as the dairy-free milk
firm, Oatly Inc. or Quorn,
the meat substitute brand, already have
introduced carbon dioxide emissions information
on their product labels.
A
product carbon footprint is the full
inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions
released throughout the product life-cycle. It
is important to define the scope when
calculating the carbon footprint of a
product. Cradle-to-grave approach
captures emissions from the extractions of raw
materials, through to product’s manufacture,
distribution, use and eventual disposal.
According to Carbon
Trust, this is the most used approach by
consumer goods companies, and it is in line
with the principles of a circular economy,
where the full life-cycle of a product,
including its end of life needs to be
considered.
As we can see on the below, Unilever example,
most of the environmental impact of many
consumer products is incurred while the
consumer uses the product.
Unilever GHG footprint
– Measured 1 July 2018 – 30 June 2019
Image Source: www.unilever.com
However, how consumers interact with a product
can be influenced by product design, marketing
or point of sale information. For example, a
change in laundry detergent formulation, could
potentially reduce both the amount of water
needed and the greenhouse gas emissions
generated by wash cycles.
Influencing consumers towards environmentally
sound disposal practices can be done through
choices in packaging type and even through
external initiatives to increase recycling and
reuse.
And finally, a carbon product footprint label
on the product packaging can empower consumers
to purchase a product with overall lower
environmental impact.
However, currently there are no commonly used
and accepted standards on how to calculate or
communicate a product carbon footprint to
consumers.
Carbon Trust as an example differentiates
between the following levels of carbon
footprint information that can be provided to
consumers on a product label
-
CO2 Measured: product’s
carbon footprint has been measured. -
Reducing CO2: there is a
company commitment to reduce a product’s
carbon footprint. -
Lower Carbon: carbon
footprint of a product is lower from the
market dominant product. -
Carbon Neutral: carbon
footprint has been reduced and outstanding
emissions are offset.
Image Source:
www.carbontrust.com
L’Oreal on the other hand wants to score its
products from A to E with ‘A’ representing the
‘best in class’ in terms of impact. This
approach certainly allows to compare L’Oreal
products among each other. However, an
industry standard would be needed to ensure
that corporate claims are substantiated, and
that information provided on a label is
comparable between different product brands.
Let’s now have a look at what are the driving
forces behind these carbon footprint labelling
initiatives.
Growing consumer environmental
awareness.
Future growth will depend on aligning with
consumers’ priorities.
The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC)
latest research shows that most EU
consumers are willing to make more sustainable
choices, but face difficulties. For a
sustainable purchase choice to become easier
consumers need to receive improved information,
the right price signals, and more sustainable
options.
International consumer research study
undertaken earlier this year by Carbon Trust
shows continuing levels of support for carbon
labelling on products, with two-thirds of
consumers saying they think it is a good idea.
Additionally, some studies, such us the
Chalmers Technological University in Sweden
research, suggest that carbon labels
actually work. The traffic-light coloured label
was implemented in a student catering facility
and covered all seven dishes on offer.
According to the research findings, sales of
green labelled (low emission) dishes increased
by 11.5% compared with the control phase.
Legislative pressures.
Companies are under pressure to move to a
product life-cycle approach to sustainability
not only from consumers but also from
governments. As more countries are enforcing
environmental and extended producer
responsibility legislation, companies need to
innovate when it comes to the product,
packaging as well as its relationship with
consumers.
Companies can reduce the impact they are
responsible for not only internally through
their operations, but also externally by
increasing consumer awareness.
In the
Circular Economy Action Plan published in
March 2020, the European Commission proposes a
revision of EU consumer law to ensure that
consumers receive trustworthy and relevant
information on products at the point of sale.
The EC will also propose that companies
substantiate their environmental claims using
Product and Organisation Environmental
Footprint methods.
In the Circular Economy Action Plan, the EC
announced that it will consider strengthening
consumer protection against green washing by
setting minimum requirements for sustainability
labels and logos and other information tools.
Leadership from major consumer brands such as
Unilever and L’Oreal along with European
Commission position may lead to an emergence of
an industry standard for carbon footprint
labelling.
This in turn will hopefully lead to a more
widespread adoption of carbon footprint
labelling across products and brands to empower
consumers to make more informed, sustainable
choices.
