Tesco has “disappointed” the Carbon Trust as it pulls out of the organisation’s eco-labelling scheme.
The Carbon Trust told freshinfo: " We are clearly disappointed that Tesco has decided to phase out over time the use of the label on cost grounds… Tesco is a valued customer of ours, having been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard and having pioneered the use of the Carbon Reduction Label on some 500 of their products over the past four years.”
The UK’s largest retailer attracted huge publicity to the trust when it announced in 2008 it was teaming up with it on labelling. Tesco researched the carbon footprint of a host of its own-brand products including several potato lines so that it could label them with the trust’s carbon-reduction logo.
David North, UK corporate affairs director at Tesco said it was not leaving carbon labeling behind altogether though. “We are not withdrawing from carbon labelling, which is an important and desirable innovation. What is correct is that the scheme we developed with the Carbon Trust, although it has many merits, has not yet been widely adopted by other retailers and manufacturers.”
He calculated that Tesco has already labeled 500 of its products since 2008 but now needs to look at how to do this more cost-effectively. North said: “To build greater momentum we are working hard on how our scheme can be adapted so that it is faster and cheaper to operate, appears on many more products and helps more customers and suppliers to reduce their emissions. Customers want us to keep going on climate change in tough times and if we can make the information we provide even simpler and more empowering for them then that will be all to the good.”
Meanwhile, the Carbon Trust acknowledged Tesco’s initial support: A spokesperson said: “Tesco’s early adoption of the label has been followed by over 100 companies, with our carbon reduction label now licensed for use in 19 countries around the world. The annual sales value of goods carrying the label is some £3 billion… We are confident that our existing label customers and new customers will see the value of an internationally recognised carbon label backed by expert independent certification.”
