Produce takes key role in Tesco carbon project

Potatoes and orange juice are two of the four categories chosen by Tesco as forerunners in today's launch of a major trial on carbon labelling on own-brand products.

The Carbon Reduction Label, developed in conjunction with the Carbon Trust will appear on 20 products across the four categories, which also include laundry detergent and light bulbs.

Building on the experience of the Carbon Trust’s trial of carbon reduction labels, Tesco hopes to enable customers to make more informed choices based on the carbon footprint of products, and understand how they can best reduce their own footprint.

The labels will inform customers of the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced during the life cycle of the product, including use and disposal. It will also show comparative data with other products in the category, as well as hints and tips to help customers tackle climate change.

A website - www.tesco.com/greenerliving - has been launched simultaneously, to support the launch of the label and, in larger Tesco stores, customers will be offered a booklet called “How can we shrink our carbon footprint”.

The carbon footprint measurements reveal that different products have different hotspots in their life cycle, said Tesco. For orange juice, the production stage is the most carbon intensive, whereas with light bulbs, the use phase is the biggest contributor.

Tesco ceo Sir Terry Leahy set the ball rolling for this project in a speech during the early months of 2007, and expressed his delight that the work with the Carbon Trust has come to fruition. He added that he wants Tesco customers’ help “in working towards a revolution in green consumption”, and encouraged “all our suppliers and competitors to support the Carbon Trust in this collaboration.

Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said: “There has been a significant groundswell of interest from consumers in the carbon impact of the products they buy. And the collective challenge for businesses is to get meaningful information to them at the right time and place so they can make informed low carbon choices.

“We hope today’s announcement will further catalyse action from other manufacturers and retailers to drive more and more carbon out of their supply chains and products.”