Carbon Labelling
Did you know?
Almost half of your carbon footprint comes from the products and services you buy and use.
The Carbon labels will allow you to easily understand the footprint of individual products and help you to reduce your own carbon footprint.
The labels are designed to show how many grams of carbon or equivalent greenhouse gases were emitted as a result of growing, manufacturing, transporting and storing a product. They also consider the impact of preparing or using a product and then disposing of any waste.
Some labels also give you tips about how to reduce a product's footprint when you cook it, use it or dispose of it.
There are now 120 products in Tesco that are labelled, so look out for some of the following next time you're shopping:
- Potatoes
- Orange juice
- Washing detergent
- Light bulbs
- Milk
- Kingsmill Bread
- Reusable bags
- Our home insulation service
- Kitchen and toilet roll
"We made comparisons
For each product, we compared carbon footprints for a variety of different types. For instance, chilled fresh juice against cartons of juice made from concentrate.
We looked at packaging
We found that Tesco concentrated non-biological liquid washing detergent has a smaller carbon footprint than our non-biological washing powder or tablets, as it uses less packaging and can be transported more easily.
We found out the life cycle of products
It turned out that 99 per cent of a light bulb's carbon footprint is created after it has been installed. Although energy-saving light bulbs use more energy in their manufacture, they have a much lower carbon footprint than conventional bulbs.
Download our findings below.
The Carbon Trust verified all the data we collected. It is also working with other retailers and manufacturers to help them measure, reduce and label their products and services. Find out more about the Carbon Trust here.
L'étiquette Carbone Française informe le consommateur de l’impact environnemental du produit qu’il achète en signalant sur l’étiquette :
- Le poids de CO² émis par l’emballage
- Le pourcentage de déchets recyclables de cet emballage
- Le nombre de kilomètres effectués par le produit pour arriver dans les linéaires
Le vert signifie un impact très faible et le rouge un impact très important.
I think the Carbon label is a great idea. I hope Travel company will soon have to produce a Carbon Label on all Marketing and on the Flight tickets.