Carbon labelling explained
How will a carbon label help?
What does the label show?
What did the Carbon Trust do?
Which products are in this trial?
What did we discover?
Where there any surprises?
Tell us what you think about the label
How will a carbon label help?
We hope that this simple label will allow you to easily understand the carbon footprint of individual products – and therefore help you to reduce your carbon footprint.
Remember – almost half of your footprint comes from products you buy and services you use.
What does the label show?
It tells you how many grams of carbon or equivalent greenhouse gases were emitted as a result of growing, manufacturing, transporting and storing a product. It also considers the impact of preparing or using a product and then disposing of any waste.
For some products it will also tell you how the carbon footprint compares with other similar products, so you can tell which has the smallest carbon footprint.
Some labels will also give you tips about how to reduce a product’s footprint when you cook it, use it or dispose of it.
What did the Carbon Trust do?
They verified all the data we collected. They are also working with other retailers and manufacturers to help them measure, reduce and label their products and services.
Find out more about carbon labels
Which products are in this trial?
We put a carbon label on four sets of products for this trial: potatoes, orange juice, washing detergent and light bulbs. For each product, we compared a variety of different types.
For instance, we compared chilled fresh juice with cartons of juice made from concentrate to see how the carbon footprints differed.
What did we discover?
We found that Tesco concentrated non-biological liquid washing detergent has a smaller carbon footprint than our non-biological washing powder or tablets. This is because it has less packaging and can be transported more easily.
However, the majority of the carbon linked to doing your laundry is caused by the washing machine or tumble drier. Switching the temperature of your wash from 40°C to 30°C saves 150g of carbon per wash, and drying naturally rather than using a tumble drier can save over 2,000g!
When we examined the life-cycle of a light bulb, we discovered that as much as 99% of its carbon footprint was created after the bulb had been installed in a light socket.
This means that, despite being more energy-intensive to manufacture, energy saving light bulbs have a much lower carbon footprint than conventional bulbs.
An 11W energy-saving bulb produces the same amount of light as a 60W standard bulb. An energy-saving bulb therefore uses a fifth of the energy to do the same job.
For every 60W light bulb you switch to an 11W bulb you will save almost £5 on your annual energy bill. Energy saving light bulbs can last up to 10 years longer than standard bulbs so you will save on the cost of light bulbs too!
Were there any surprises?
We also discovered that how you cook a food often has the biggest impact on its carbon footprint – over half the footprint of a King Edward baked potato is created by the energy used to cook it. You can reduce this by using a microwave or boiling the potato rather than baking it in an oven.
Tell us what you think about the label
We would love to know what you think of this label, and whether you find it helpful. Email us or write to ‘Carbon Labelling team’, Tesco Stores Ltd., Cheshunt EN8 9SL.
