Opinion
Eco-labelling
Tesco has now put a carbon footprint on its milk. Wal-Mart wants to develop an environmental rating system for product labels. The UK government is reported to be thinking of a scheme that may cover animal welfare, use of chemicals, packaging and food miles.
Carbon may well be a good starting point, but there are already many different ways of measuring and communicating this. Eventually, I believe eco-labelling will follow the same route as nutrition labelling. Both will need to cover a range of standard elements, which will be constantly debated and reviewed. Consistency and comparability will be vital.
I think the best scheme so far is one we devised at Zenith International nearly two years ago under our proposed Carbon Action Plan. It was never implemented, because it was ahead of its time and expensive to pioneer.
Do ask if you would like to know more.
About the author
Richard Hall is chairman of Zenith International.
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