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Reducing the climate change impact
of everything we buy
Food & Drink Innovation Event:
Carbon Footprinting versus Labelling
Euan Murray
17th October 2007
Agenda
Background to supply chain engagement
Carbon Trust’s pilot product footprinting &
labelling work
The Future: standard development, industry
engagement & pilot projects
The Carbon Trust
Who we are:
Independent company, funded by UK Government
Our role:
Help organisations reduce their carbon emissions
and develop commercial low carbon technologies
Last year we:
Worked with >5,000 companies across UK
Identified savings of 4.6 million tCO2 worth £0.5
Billion in cost savings per year
What is good carbon
management?
Stage 1:
Direct Company
Emissions Reduction
Stage 2:
Supply Chain
Emissions Reduction
Stage 3 (Optional):
Offsetting
What is the footprint of a
product?
Supply chain / value chain of a can of cola
 Aluminium
 Cola
Production
production
 Sugar farming  Packaging
 Transportation  Refrigeration
 Chilled storage
 Can collection
 Recycling or
disposal
Total carbon footprint of the can of cola (illustrative)
Disposal &
recycling
Raw
material
Product
manufacturing
Consumer
use
Distribution & retail
Agenda
Background to supply chain engagement
Carbon Trust’s pilot product footprinting &
labelling work
The Future: standard development, industry
engagement & pilot projects
Supply chain emissions
reductions
 Supplier energy
efficiency –
encouraging them
directly
 Calculating product
carbon footprints –
identifying hotspots
 Trinity Mirror example
Why the “product view” is key
Targets >50% of emissions
–Individual carbon
footprint of 11 tonnes
CO2 p.a.
The UN/IPCC, Kyoto
Protocol and China
The market – consumers
and brands
The business need is growing
Cost-saving
strategy
Further energy cost savings
– e.g. 20% reduction on Boots Shampoo project
Consumer demand for companies to take
action on climate change
New market
strategy
– GfK NOP (Oct 2006): 60% of consumers want
to buy from companies doing the right thing on
climate change
Consumer desire for low-carbon products
– Globescan (March 2007):
– 60% of UK consumers want companies to
provide more PoS information on climate
change impacts
– 77% want independent assurance of company
claims on climate change
The word “VERSUS”: Footprinting AND/OR labelling
March launch of our work
Launch focussed on 4 key things:
Product Carbon
Footprinting
Methodology
Standard development
& consultation
Defra & BSI British
Standards
Product Label
Pilot Development
Projects
Pilot carbon reduction label
 Independent
measurement
 “Reduce or lose”
commitment
Carbon labelling: the only
solution?
Businesses need to communicate through different channels:
– Explanation of climate change impacts and product impacts
– Explanation of how consumers can act
Labelling is not a panacea but can be part of the solution: we will
learn more through the pilot projects
Independent market research shows positive trends
GfK NOP & Globescan
YouGov (Sept 207): 44% would switch to a product with a smaller carbon footprint
even if it was not their first preference
Populus Consumer Survey July 2007
– 85% concerned consumers have heard of the carbon reduction label
– 68% of all consumers say the label measures ‘The amount of carbon emitted
during the whole lifecycle of the product – from ‘seed’ to ‘store’’
– 49% say ‘It makes me more likely to buy their products’ when the label is
displayed on pack
– 69% agree ‘It demonstrates that the company is committed to reducing its
carbon emissions’
– 62% agree ‘It helps me to reduce the carbon footprint of my regular shopping’
Agenda
Background to supply chain engagement
Carbon Trust’s pilot product footprinting &
labelling work
The Future: standard development, industry
engagement & pilot projects
Standard Development
BSI are leading the work to develop the PAS Standard
– Appointed a Steering Group from business, NGO, academics
and government
– First draft prepared, using the CT methodology as base
– First of two consultations commenced
– Details on the BSI website: www.bsi-global.com/PAS2050
Food & Grocery supply chains heavily involved:
– 2 representatives on the BSI Steering Group
– Support from IGD, FDF, BRC and NFU
– Lots of members of those organisations
Engagement, support and efforts invaluable
New Pilot Projects
CT looking to test the draft BSI standard with different
products and in different sectors
The companies will work with us to reduce their emissions
and explore the best way to communicate the results
10 new projects:
Aggregate Industries
Cadbury Schweppes
Coca-Cola
The Co-operative Group
Halifax
Kimberly-Clark
Marshalls
Mϋller Dairy
Scottish & Newcastle
Tesco
Hard landscaping products
Dairy Milk bars
A still and a sparkling beverage
Strawberries
Halifax Web Saver Account
Andrex and Huggies nappies
Hard landscaping products
Yoghurts
Fosters lager & Bulmer’s cider
5 different product categories
We will do further pilots throughout the year
Making Business Sense
of Climate Change
QUESTIONS