By Greentech
Lead Team: Grocery store Tesco had pledged to label all 70,000 of its products
with their carbon footprints.
However the
retailer’s now debating whether or not to continue upholding this commitment,
with the firm blaming the amount of work involved and the fact that other
shop’s failed to follow its lead. The news comes as Tesco ranked 93rd
out of over 2,000 participants in the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Scheme
last year.
Tesco’s
carbon-label scheme was announced in 2007 when Sir Terry Leahy, the chief
executive, promised to put carbon labels on thousands of their items. The plan,
which was dubbed a “revolution in green consumption”, would involve
products such as toilet roll, milk and orange juice having their production
emissions recorded for the British public to see.
The
supermarket has revealed that it is considering ditching the green program,
stating that they expected other retailers to follow giving it “critical
mass but it hasn’t happened.” Tesco also attributed the scrap to several
months’ work that was required to calculate each product’s footprint.
A
spokesperson from Tesco told The Guardian that it was phasing out the
labels but that the store still planned on providing carbon information on some
products.
“We are
fully committed to carbon foot printing and helping our customers make greener
choices. No final decision has yet been made, and we are always on the lookout
to find even better ways to communicate the carbon impact of products in a way
that informs and empowers customers,” according to a report in Guardian.
The
spokesperson from the body that created the carbon label, the Carbon Trust,
said that it was “clearly disappointed” at the news. Other brands
which are continuing to use the carbon footprint labels include PepsiCo on its
Walker crisp packets and Tropicana orange juice cartons, Dyson, and Kingsmill.
Apollo
Enviro, in a press release said, it can help businesses become more energy
efficient by advising how to reduce your carbon footprint and reduce carbon
emissions. The experts run tailored Environmental Awareness Workshops to
improve employee awareness and demonstrate changes that could be made within
your business by your staff, to make real advances towards energy efficiency.