1. University of Strathclyde
Department of Civil Engineering /David Livingston Centre for Sustainability
“The use of carbon footprint label as an indicator of
environmental sustainability”
Sofia Diaz Rivera Ollivier
21/October/2011
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2. CONTENTS
1. Summary
2. Induction
3. Carbon footprint as an indicator of environmental sustainability
4. Consumers & carbon footprint labels
I. Carbon labeling aiding consumers
II. Carbon label understanding
III. Carbon labeling and consumers purchasing decisions
5. Conclusions
6. List of References
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3. 1.-SUMMARY
Using a carbon footprint label today isn’t a good indicator of environmental sustainability. Even
though consumers want the label, they don´t understand it and they don´t base their shopping
decisions on carbon labels. In the future the carbon footprint label may be a good indicator of
environmental sustainability, once consumers comprehend the carbon footprint data on the label
and start buying them to reduce their personal carbon footprint. All company´s assessment on
environmental sustainability cannot rely only on their carbon footprint; other indicators should be
taken into account such as land use, biodiversity, water impact, waste management, among
others.
2.-INTRODUCTION
In this briefing paper I will argument why the use of carbon footprint label is not today a good
indicator of environmental sustainability but may be in the future. First, I will evaluate if the
carbon footprint is a good indicator of environmental sustainability and then dive into consumer’s
point of view to see if it is useful for them, if they understand them and if they actually base their
buying decisions on whether a product has or has not a carbon footprint label.
Carbon footprint labeling started in 2007 in the UK, and it is not compulsory for companies to do
it. It is in a company´s own interest to get a 3 party verified label carbon or carbon reduction label
by the Carbon Trust. To get the carbon label a company needs to calculate the exact carbon
footprint of the products life cycle complying with a PAS 2050 standard. (Carbon Trust)
For the purpose of this paper it is important to distinguish between 3 different types of
sustainability: Environmental Sustainability, Economic Sustainability & Social Sustainability. Even
though they are interdependent, and a sustainable development strategy should always integrate
these tree aspects, this paper is going to focus only on Environmental Sustainability.
Environmental sustainability is about balancing the levels of production or resources (inputs) and
consumption(outputs), so that future generations have access to these finite resources.(Goodland,
R. 1995).
3.-CARBON FOOTPRINT AS AN INDICATOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Carbon Footprint measures only the contribution of Green House Gases to climate change. So
other indicators of environmental sustainability like human health, biodiversity impacts, water
use, tones of waste, etc. are left aside. In the study Carbon footprint as environmental
performance indicator for the manufacturing industry conducted by Laurent A. et al. (2010) they
try to find by a life cycle analysis of different industrial materials, if there is a correlation between
Carbon Footprint (CFP) and Human Toxic Impacts (HTI) . The results of this study show that there
is no correlation whatsoever between the CFP and the HTI in the industrial materials analyzed.
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4. Based on this it can be conclude that CFP is not useful as an overall indicator of environmental
impact, but it helps to asses an organization level of Green House Gases emissions.
4.-CONSUMERS & CARBON FOOTPRINT LABELS
4.1 Carbon labeling aiding consumers
Carbon labeling helps communicate through the product´s label the GHGs associated with its life
cycle (Upan P., et al. 2011), so it helps consumer make a more informed decision when buying
(Teisl and Roe 1998 in Upan P., et al 2011). Some consumers find it difficult to identify the green
products in the stores (Borin, N. 2011), so carbon labeling can solve this problem by helping
identify them. Additionally, according to the Gallup Organization (2009, in Upan P., et al 2011)
72% of EU consumers support carbon labeling and think it should be obligatory.
4.2 Carbon label understanding
In a research conducted by Upan (et al. 2011) they found that consumers need more information
to understand carbon labels. They have problems contextualizing the measurement used. Taking
this into account it can be useful to give comparisons or use a sort of guidance as the GDPs used to
display nutritional information on food products. Carbon labels need some sort of standardization
so that consumers can understand it and make informed decisions when shopping.
In this same research it was found that consumers do understand the footprint symbol. What they
comprehend from it that the product /company is committed to reduce their carbon emissions in
a certain period of time (Upan et al. 2011).
4.3 Carbon labeling and consumers purchasing decisions
Today most of the people know and care about environmental issues, but it doesn´t necessarily
mean that they will act upon it. Even though a person considers himself “eco-friendlly”, it doesn´t
mean he is going to buy carbon label products ( Brook Lyndhurst 2007, in Upan, et al. 2011). Also
most people when buying, don´t consider the energy consumption or the impact it will have in the
environment (Brook Lyndhurst2007, in Upan, et al. 2011), they shop based on quality, price, taste,
etc.
Carbon footprint labeling is still at its infancy, according to BrandZ (in Morrison, 2011), the
corporate reputation study by Millward Brown, a company´s environmental reputation only
influences 2% of all the sales.
Furthermore carbon label creates value to the product only when consumers are searching
actively for carbon footprint information, otherwise the carbon label doesn´t create value to the
product (Kimura A. et al 2010). Even for these few green consumers that want to buy green
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5. products they will have to buy almost exclusively carbon label products, in order to make a
significant reduction on their own carbon footprint (Upan, et al.2011).
5.-CONCLUSIONS
Carbon Footprint is an excellent indicator for measuring Green House Gases, but it doesn´t
includes other relevant aspects for environmental sustainability, such as waste management,
water impact, health, land use and biodiversity, etc. So when assessing if a company is
environmentally sustainable other indicators should be taken into account.
From consumers perspective the carbon footprint label helps them make more informed choices
when shopping and they actually want products to have it. But currently they find it difficult to
understand them. While they comprehend the footprint symbol they don´t understand the CFT
measurement. In this area work needs to be done by companies in educating the consumers and
standardizing information.
Even though carbon labeling is useful and gives consumers extra information for decision making,
consumers are not yet ready to choose a product based on the products carbon footprint. Only
green consumers who are actively searching for carbon footprint information will take this
information into account in their decision making process.
So as a conclusion carbon labeling isn´t a good indicator of a company’s environmental
sustainability today but can be in the future once consumers comprehend the labels and more
people start becoming more ecologically involved and begin making shopping decisions based on a
product´s carbon footprint.
6. - LIST OF REFERENCES
Borin N. and Cerf D.C., (2011) Consumer effects of environmental impact in product labeling,
Journal of Consumer Marketing 28/1 (2011) pg. 76–86, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Carbon Trust (2011) http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/cut-carbon-reduce-costs/promote/carbon-
trust-footprinting-company/pages/default.aspx & http://www.carbon-label.com/ Accessed 06
/10/11
Goodland, R. (1995) The Concept of Environmental Sustainability, Annual Review of Ecology and
Systematics, Vol. 26, (1995), pg. 1-24 Published by: Annual Reviews . Article Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2097196
Kimura A., et al., (2010) Interactive effects of carbon footprint information and its accessibility on
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6. value and subjective qualities of food products, Appetite 55, pg. 271–278
Laurent A., Olsen S.I. , Hauschild M.Z. (2)* (2010), Carbon footprint as environmental performance
indicator for the manufacturing industry. CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 59, pg. 37–40.
Morrison H. (2011), Carbon labeling makes better business sense, The Grocer, 24 September,
Section Comments & Opinion pg. 24
Upham P., Dendler L., Bleda M. (2011) Carbon labelling of grocery products: public perceptions
and potential emissions reductions. Journal of Cleaner Production 19, pg. 348-355
Veleva V., Hart M., Greiner T., Crumbley C., (2003) Indicators for measuring environmental
sustainability: A case study of the pharmaceutical industry, Benchmarking: An International
Journal, Vol. 10 Iss: 2, pg.107 – 119
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