Tesco may stop labelling its products with the Carbon Trust’s carbon reduction label because it is too costly and slow to achieve, it says.

The supermarket was one of the original supporters of the Carbon Trust’s label, testing the new label on a handful of products in 2008. To achieve the label, companies must measure the carbon footprint created by making the product and commit to reducing it.

Tesco promised to label all 70,000 of its own-brand products. To date, the retailer has achieved the label for 500 products and footprinted a further 600. At that rate it would take centuries to achieve its goal.

Considering its options

A Tesco spokeswoman said “no final decision has yet been made” about pulling out of the Carbon Trust’s labelling scheme, but she confirmed the company is looking for an alternative.

In December, Tesco joined the Sustainability Consortium, a group of businesses, academics and campaigners, which is researching product sustainability. Tesco said it hoped this work would “help us move even faster on product carbon measurement”.

In a statement, Tesco said: “We are not withdrawing from carbon labelling, which is an important and desirable innovation… But to build greater momentum we want to make footprinting faster and cheaper, allowing us to help more customers and suppliers to reduce their emissions.”

Tesco’s poor financial performance may also be a factor behind its desire to cut costs. It recently announced sales had fallen over the Christmas period, while Sainsbury’s increased. Tesco has also lost market share to its rivals.

The company also said its customers found the Carbon Trust label “difficult to understand”. In the past, Tesco had been confident that labelling could help customers live greener lives.

Other retailers, such as Marks & Spencer, have long questioned the usefulness to consumers of carbon labelling and have argued that companies should just get on with cutting the impacts of their products.

The Carbon Trust denied that Tesco’s criticisms were a blow. In a statement, the trust said: “We are confident that the label enables brands to demonstrate what they are doing to take action on product and service carbon footprints.”

It said more than 100 companies use the label, with many others showing interest in achieving it.

Please note this article has been republished with the kind permission of the ENDS Report.