Archive for the ‘Carbon Labelling’ Category

Two sides of the carbon label

The September edition of The Environmentalist (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment’s member magazine) and the October edition of Marketing Magazine (one of the main journals of the marketing community) both published double-page spreads discussing carbon labelling.

The jury is definitely still out about the effectiveness of labelling and carbon labelling in particular. If research polls are to be believed, consumers are demanding more information on product packaging. According to Harry Morrison (Director of Certification at the Carbon Trust) more than £3bn worth of goods were sold bearing the carbon trust’s carbon reduction label … “as a testament to the label’s success”.

However, the most significant question is not just the degree to which the label has penetrated but whether the label actually influences consumer behaviour.

The best example, which seems to have a significant effect on behaviour is the Fair Trade Foundation label, which last year saw a 40% increase in sales by value, which is impressive. However consumer decision making is a very complex process, where emotions tend to dominate.

Labels will inevitably have a supporting or secondary role, sitting behind or below simple brand perception and loyalty. Particularly in supermarket shopping, consumers make split-second choices based on price, choice and brand. As Lucy Yates (Sustainability Expert at Consumer Focus) stated in The Environmentalist article, consumers spend, on average 16 seconds in a supermarket aisle.

Although labels may not play a very significant role in the aisle, perhaps they play a role back at home – how much cereal packet information is read over breakfast? How much of this sits in the subconscious and starts to influence future decisions? This is perhaps where labels have the potential to create more informed consumers.

It is still early days even with labelling that has been available for a while, such as nutrition on food packaging. For the most engaged consumer, carbon is a hard concept to grasp – even though the information can be conveyed in a single number. To most people it is as difficult to grasp as the torque level of a car engine.

The pioneers in carbon labelling should be praised for their adventure and endeavour but aware of the risks of confusion and in fact the potential to backfire. This was brought home to me at a recent Start Summit where I heard Richard Reed of Innocent proudly proclaiming that one kilogramme of Innocent smoothie would not produce one kilogramme of CO2, but what does this actually mean to a consumer?

Often in debates ,companies will proudly say that 1 kg of smoothie has less carbon than a kilo of concrete (factually correct) – but a consumer isn’t choosing between a healthy beverage and something to lay their patio on. Until multiple manufacturers in the same category buy into carbon labelling there is little on offer to the consumer in terms of increased knowledge which leads to better decisions.

In my view carbon should really only be a corporate, not a brand, issue. Companies should be transparent with their carbon footprint rather than spending a lot money trying to establish facts that actually don’t help in decision making and have no direct benefit to the consumer.

I believe that packaging should only contain information which is of direct benefit to the consumer – such as nutrition or wash temperature. There is a danger of it becoming cluttered with information that attempts to salve the conscious of the producer and that is basically conceptual. More information is, most certainly, not always a good thing.

Are we in danger of confusing why carbon is important? Of course an company should account and in doing so may identify issues that need improving in order to have a significant effect on corporate footprint. This information may also help research and development isolate components that need particular focus and lead to innovation.

Neither article reached a clear conclusion because the issue of carbon are incredibly complex, what it has brought home to me is that it is more an issue for management and corporate communications than it is for brand and consumer communication.

Garbage in, garbage out!

May 24th, 2013

Over the last few months, working with a number of clients on how best to engage their internal teams, one

ISO 14001 auditing and compliance evaluation

May 14th, 2013

As some of you will be aware Dan and I were a part of the Planet and Prosperity team, led

Collaboration, Nature or Nurture?

April 11th, 2013

“Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration…” was the title from our latest Oomph Seminar. Apologies to Tony Blair for our rather clumsy adaptation

Sustainability – Let’s get involved

March 27th, 2013

Yesterday was a first for me. I was in the audience at an internal company conference while Dan took the

Green Deal or No Deal?

February 28th, 2013

Updating the energy efficiency of the UK’s aged housing stock is a no brainer. It will possibly have more of an impact

Bolting the stable door!

February 18th, 2013

Much has been reported about the horse meat scandal in the food supply chain, much angst and much anger, and

The Blessing of No Budget – Oomph Seminar, London 17th January 2013

January 18th, 2013

Our successful series, Oomph Seminars, moved to London yesterday. The theme was “Sustainability on a Shoestring – is it possible?”

Welcome to the world of the new ‘normal’.

January 4th, 2013

There are times when events converge to stimulate some new thinking – for me, this might be one of those

Can You Do Good Badly?

November 30th, 2012

    I don’t think I’m one to scare easily but the headline in last weekend’s Sunday Times cut me

Emotion Sells

October 31st, 2012

This post is going to short and sweet. It is a rallying cry to all sustainability professionals out there. Do


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    Participant at first Oomph Seminar 30 June 2011