Tesco and the Carbon Trust partner to map carbon footprint of 30 products

Tesco and the Carbon Trust are to measure the carbon footprint of 30 Tesco own-brand products in the next stage of the journey towards a clear, universal system of carbon labelling for the weekly shop.



Ranging from orange juice to light bulbs, the products will be assessed using the draft standard currently being developed by the Carbon Trust, Defra and BSI British Standards to measure the embodied greenhouse gas emissions from products and services.



The 30 individual products fall into five categories:



§ tomatoes



§ potatoes



§ orange juice



§ light bulbs



§ washing detergent





The announcement marks the latest step in Tescoâ?Ts quest to offer customers better information about the potential impact on climate change of every product they buy.



Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock, commented: “Measuring the carbon footprint of the products we make, buy and sell is a complicated process. As businesses increasingly look for ways to reduce their effect on the environment there is a growing need for a reliable, consistent way to measure these impacts.



“That‘‘s why Defra, the Carbon Trust and the British Standards Institute are developing a standard for measuring the carbon footprints of products and services with a range of partners, and I warmly welcome Tesco‘‘s involvement in this work. What we learn from this project will be invaluable to our efforts to help companies make informed decisions about what they produce and offer to consumers.”



Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, added: â?oWe are delighted to be working with Tesco to measure the emissions from such a wide variety of products. This project will provide Tesco with a detailed understanding of the impacts of the selected products and how they can drive carbon emissions out of their supply chains. In addition it will be crucial in testing the applicability of the draft standard and providing detailed feedback that will help develop a single common standard that can be simply applied across sectors and products categories.â??



Sir Terry Leahy, Chief Executive of Tesco said: â?oWe want to help our customers deliver a revolution in green consumption, and this work with the Carbon Trust will bring us a step closer to providing the type of information customers need to make greener choices based on good science.



â?oWhile thereâ?Ts still a long way to go, mapping the carbon footprint of these few products will yield invaluable data that will benefit all those retailers and producers who are working towards combating climate change.â??



This important project will provide valuable information on how the standard, called the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050, can be applied in a simple, cost-effective way to a wide range of products and services. Where relevant, the information will be fed back to the Steering Group overseeing the development of the standard for its consideration and use.



The Carbon Trust and Defra are working with BSI British Standards to develop the single standard, based on a method for measuring the embodied greenhouse gas emissions from products and services across their lifecycle that will be applicable to a wide range of sectors and product categories. The development is being overseen by an independent Steering Group chaired by Jim Skea, Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, with members from businesses, NGOs, government and academia.



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