Carbon emission label
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A carbon emission label or carbon label describes the carbon dioxide emissions embodied in a product. The world's first carbon label, which shows this carbon footprint embodied in a product in bringing it to the shelf, was introduced in the UK in March 2007 by the Carbon Trust. Examples of products featuring their carbon footprint are Walkers Crisps, innocent Smoothies and Boots plc shampoos. An independent panel is currently verifying the process alongside Defra and the British Standards Institute BSI and a new standard PAS2050 is due to be introduced in mid-2008.
The CarbonCounted version of the carbon label, which started in January 2007, uses a live carbon supply chain to determine the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to bring a product to market. This third party certified system, based on an open standard, eliminates the need for heavy auditing and guess work associated with values determined when using isolated accounting methods. This also addresses how to consistently and fairly apply the smaller details such as the heating, cooling, lighting etc. in the shops the products are sold in.
