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The Carbon Trust today launched a radical new initiative to help businesses cut carbon emissions in their supply chain and deliver low carbon products and services to UK consumers.
In a new report, “Carbon Footprints in the supply chain: the next step for business”, the Carbon Trust outlines the steps that businesses should take to identify the carbon footprint of the individual products and services they sell. By undertaking a carbon investigation of their supply chains, businesses can map out the carbon emitted at every stage of a product’s lifecycle from source to shelf, consumption and disposal.
This approach will help businesses respond to growing consumer demand by delivering genuinely low carbon products and services. Recent research published by the Carbon Trust showed that 66 per cent of UK consumers want to know the carbon footprint of the products and services they buy and two thirds are more likely to buy a product with a low carbon footprint.
The Carbon Trust has worked on pilot projects in snack foods with Walkers and in print media with Trinity Mirror. These projects alone have already identified potential annual savings for the two businesses of £2.7 million and 28,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum – the equivalent carbon emissions of 5,000 households. The Carbon Trust is now also working on similar projects with Boots, Cadburys Schweppes and Marks & Spencer. The project with Boots aims to track the carbon footprint of its products with the aim of creating a new ‘low carbon shampoo’.
Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, commented: “Cutting carbon in the supply chain is the next critical stage in the business contribution to reduce carbon emissions to tackle climate change and, as the Stern report made clear, represents a significant commercial opportunity. Delivering low carbon products into the hands of consumers will not only reduce energy bills and enhance corporate and brand reputation; but will open up new revenue streams and increases brand loyalty if properly communicated.”
In the pilot project, the supply chain audit has enabled Walkers and Trinity Mirror to:
• Build a picture of the carbon footprint of the product by measuring life-cycle emissions across the entire supply chain
• Identify the largest emissions sources both within their own operations and across the activities of other companies up and down the supply chain
• Identify opportunities to reduce emissions, cut costs and create low-carbon products
David Gregory, Head of Technology at M&S Foods, said: “Our customers increasingly expect us to improve the sustainability of food sourcing on their behalf. We are working with the Carbon Trust to help us understand the carbon 'hot spots' and how we can help to reduce emissions. This will allow us to cut carbon, reduce costs and provide lower carbon products to our customers.”
Andrew Jenkins, Sustainable Development Manager, Products at Boots plc, said: “Identifying ways to reduce the carbon footprint of a product along its journey from raw materials to end of life is a vital element in tackling the threat of climate change and forms part of Boots’ holistic approach to sustainable development. Working with the Carbon Trust will help Boots develop more carbon efficient processes and provides an opportunity to produce products that help our customers move towards a low carbon lifestyle."
Martin Miller, Environmental Steering Group at PepsiCo, said: "At Walkers, we were keen to work in partnership with the Carbon Trust to help them pioneer this work in the UK. It has also helped us to better understand our environmental responsibilities and better focus our work in reducing our environmental footprint."
A spokesman for Trinity Mirror said: "We were happy to work with the Carbon Trust to help gain a better understanding of our environmental impacts. We will use that information as part of the next stage in our environmental planning."
As a next step, the Carbon Trust is calling on other organisations to undertake a carbon audit with the Carbon Trust to help them examine their own supply chains. Interested companies should visit www.carbontrust.co.uk/supplychain for a copy of the report or call the Carbon Trust on 0800 085 2005.
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