Tesco to put carbon scores on goods - Telegraph
A bold commitment to carbon disclosure.

Tesco to put carbon scores on goods - Telegraph

Tesco, a large UK retailer, will add carbon scores to thirty of its products this week. A key challenge, already identified by consumer groups, will if it’s information overload for consumers or not. Tesco’s must have considered this, and decided to err on the side of disclosure, which is our opinion as well. Over time, metrics around these amounts will be established, the first step is getting the information out there. It’s the same approach we’ve taking with ecolabelling.org in fact.

No Comments » | Tags: carbon
Posted by Jacob on Monday, April 28th, 2008 | Permalink |

Show us your Stats

So what is a label anyway?

Case in point: CO2 Stats. You can ‘green your website’ by downloading their gadget…and many have already. As such, it’s acting as an eco-label for websites. But before we decide if it’s a label, it would be good to know, at the very least:

- Where are the “Stats” coming from?

- How do we know that emissions are offset: where, when, how?

We are also wondering: does a green web just mean calculating then offsetting your individual CO2 emissions when online? I, like Madonna, am still pretty sure I am living in a material world and toxics and electronic waste are the underbelly of the web.

Even if we give the green light to the “green=CO2 offset” equation, at the very least we should know what’s being offset and how.

Come on guys, tell us your story….even if you are not up to revealing the secret sauce of your algorithm, a few more deets wouldn’t go astray.

No Comments » | Tags: carbon, green web, offsets, transparency
Posted by Anastasia on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 | Permalink |

Carbon Offset Verification Starts

Climatebiz just announced that Green-e is expanding into certification for carbon offsets next week.

Aw nuts. I was just about to launch a green offset programme and use it to buy myself a Prius.

No Comments » | Tags: carbon
Posted by Jacob on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 | Permalink |

US Mechanic Rolls out Green Label
Grease Monkey to Green Monkey.

Here’s an interesting interview with the CEO of AAMCO. A US auto service centre chain that just rolled out an eco label for their franchises.

They decided to roll out the programme after looking into biofuels conversion kits. Even though there’s controversy around biofuels at the moment it’s an interesting example of a positive side effect of interest in alternative fuels.

AAMCO can and looks to be doing a lot to improve overall fleet efficiency. That’s important because it tends to be older cars that have higher emissions. It’s good example for auto-makers and service centres around the world.

No Comments » | Tags: carbon, cars, market gaps
Posted by Jacob on Monday, February 11th, 2008 | Permalink |

Radioactive Man to Save Planet from Global Warming
Quickly Fallout Boy...the polar bears are drowning!

According to this World Nuclear News article, Finland and Sweden have a new ecolabel for carbon free power. Called “Fortum Carbon Free” the label was put together by Fortum, a nuclear energy company.

No Comments » | Tags: carbon, energy
Posted by Jacob on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 | Permalink |

Skinning the Carbon Cat
Carbon offsetting can make you richer.

Royal Hawaiian Honey is the first U.S. food product to be certified Carbonfree, according to a report in environmental leader. Carbonfree was launched in July and certifies products as being Carbonfree based on a life cycle assessment of the total carbon footprint of a product which is then offset through any of three options: renewable energy, energy efficiency, or reforestation.

The fact that Carbonfund offsets using renewable energy investments raises an interesting point. From what I understand if you select the renewable option you essentially pay them to put money into an industry that, according to the Cleantech Index currently has a combined market capitalization of approximately $290 billion. Further, their backtesting of that index indicates that it significantly outperformed the S&P 500, Dow Jones 30 Industrials, and NASDAQ indices over the past 3 and 5-year periods.

It seems to me like Carbonfund should be taking people’s money, investing it, taking a commission, and giving them their cash back with interest. Heck. I’ll make the World an offer right now. Instead of giving Carbonfund your offset money, calculate the amount of cash required to offset here, give it to me, I’ll invest it in the Cleantech Index for your for 1% commission (less than most fund managers by far), and give it back to you at any time you want. Even if you lose 30% you’re still 70% better off moneywise than giving your money to Carbonfund. Plus, if you make money, you get all the interest.

That of course doesn’t mean Carbonfund is bad at offsetting carbon. In fact, one of the benefits of CarbonFree is that it uses the money to buy certifed renewable emissions credits - meaning that people who give them their money are given some assurance that their emissions are actually being offset.

As an everyday consumer you may not want to bother with investing in a renewable energy fund. The point I’m making is that if you want to, you do have that opportunity. There’s more than one way to skin the carbon cat, and it doesn’t always have to cost you money.

No Comments » | Tags: carbon, standards
Posted by Jacob on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 | Permalink |