What are the next steps for our product carbon footprint labels?

This month sees the launch of our new carbon footprint label designs.

You will start to see them on products in coming months. But what has changed, and what do these changes mean?  

We first launched the Carbon Trust Footprint Label in 2007. At the time, our labels were the first of their type on the market, designed to independently inform consumers about the emissions created by the products they were purchasing.

Since then, many consumers around the globe have grown to trust and rely on our transparent and rigorous verification. With over 37,000 products verified, the Carbon Trust Footprint Label features on thousands of products and has become the world’s most recognised label on carbon footprints. As climate action becomes a key focus in consumers’ choices and businesses want to do more to reduce their carbon footprints, the time is right to take our footprint labels further. It is time for us to harness this momentum and encourage more ambitious climate action, by offering businesses labels that communicate their efforts at reducing their emissions

With that in mind, from September, we will no longer be offering our carbon neutral verification.  

Carbon neutral has played an important role in launching businesses’ journeys towards Net Zero, and our carbon neutral label requires a rigorous annual assessment, against PAS 2060, an internationally recognised standard for carbon neutrality. We will transition our carbon neutral verification to a range of new and existing verifications that focus on a product’s emissions reduction. For businesses this offers a way of demonstrating to consumers a commitment to achieving reductions. For consumers, it helps them choose products offered by brands committed to taking action to reduce their impact.

What will our new offering look like?

We will continue to offer a range of product labels; our research shows consumer both trust and look for these labels on products.  

There will be changes to the information on the label, with details about the claim and action being taken on the right-hand side of the label. This is to provide greater transparency and clarity.

The labels signpost to the Carbon Trust and the brands’ websites. This provides consumers with the level of detail they increasingly want and to help them make better informed choices.

And finally, we will continue to encourage all organisations we work with to accelerate their decarbonisation journeys by taking the boldest actions available to them.