{"id":345221,"date":"2020-06-02T05:27:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T12:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&p=345221"},"modified":"2024-05-10T06:36:21","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T13:36:21","slug":"products-and-carbon-labels","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/products-and-carbon-labels","title":{"rendered":"Should Products Have Carbon Labels?"},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[455201,1001,381322],"tags":[455321,382132,1331],"department":[488822],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-345221","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-climate-of-change","category-commercial","category-sustainability","tag-carbon-footprint","tag-decarbonization","tag-supply-chain","department-sustainability-risk"],"acf":{"short_description":"A growing number of consumers support labels signaling that a company is working on its carbon footprint.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> may have diverted attention from other global issues, but a recent survey found that at least one remains prominent in consumers\u2019 minds. In a survey of more than 10,000 people in the US and Europe, the Carbon Trust found that two out of three shoppers support the use of carbon labeling<\/a>. A carbon label is a display mark on products from companies committed to measuring and reducing carbon emissions to slow climate change.\r\n\r\nFielded in February and March, the online survey included participants from the US, UK, and eight Western European countries. While 67 percent of respondents favor carbon labels, just 22 percent said they think about a product\u2019s carbon footprint when making purchases, indicating they would like to be better informed."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Article snapshot:<\/strong> In a new survey conducted across the US and Europe, consumers say they want products with carbon labels to understand the environmental impact of what they buy. A supply chain challenge awaits.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Despite growing popularity of the \u201cbuy local\u201d movement, most products still arrive at stores and doorsteps from hundreds or thousands of miles away, often through a complicated series of supply chain handoffs. Measuring the carbon emissions connected to a product\u2019s raw materials, its harvesting, processing, and transport is a location-intensive, data-heavy exercise. But consumers indicate it\u2019s one they want manufacturers to undertake.\r\n

Answering to Conscientious Buyers <\/strong><\/h3>\r\nCarbon emissions make up the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say warm the planet and lead to higher sea levels and more extreme weather events<\/a>.\r\n\r\nWith or without regulations to prompt them, business leaders have begun to embrace sustainable products and processes as part of corporate social responsibility initiative<\/a>s\u2014in many cases answering to a more activist buying public. Brands known for environment-first policies form the vanguard\u2014think Patagonia and Seventh Generation. But nearly every household brand now has a plan for carbon mitigation:\r\n