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UK retailer Tesco is the world’s first supermarket group to launch a major trial of carbon labelling on its own brand products. The Carbon Reduction Label developed by the Carbon Trust will soon appear on 20 Tesco products in four different categories: laundry detergent, orange juice, potatoes and light bulbs.

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

Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy said: “We're delighted to be taking this major step with the Carbon Trust. We want to give our customers the power to make informed green choices for their weekly shop, and enlist their help in working towards a revolution in green consumption. We encourage all of our suppliers and competitors to support the Carbon Trust in this collaboration.”

Carbon Trust Chief Executive Tom Delay added: “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 begin to make informed low carbon choices.

“Tesco is one of eight partners to commit to using the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Reduction label and momentum on this important issue is growing week by week. 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.”

The label tells customers the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases produced during the life of each product, including use and disposal. On many products the new label will include hints and tips which will help customers understand the simple actions they can take to help tackle climate change (for example, washing clothes at a lower temperature). A number of other Carbon Trust partners are expected to adopt the label shortly.

To help customers use the label, the launch of the trial is supported by online information on their ‘Greener Living’ website and, in larger stores, customers can pick up a booklet called “How can we shrink our carbon footprint?” As well as explaining what a carbon label is this information will help customers understand more about the issues of climate change and what they can do to help.

The carbon footprint measurements revealed that different products have different “hot spots” in their life cycle. For orange juice, the production phase is the most carbon-intensive stage whereas, for light bulbs, the use phase is the greatest contributor to the carbon footprint.

Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group said: “This is a great step forwards in making embedded carbon visible to consumers and suppliers alike. Consumers have been able to count calories for a long time. This scheme will now allow consumers to count carbon and to choose products that result in a low carbon diet. Suppliers will then start to compete for the cleanest, greenest supply chain.”