The Carbon Trust aims for the bigger picture
The Carbon Trust is working with ingredients suppliers to get a broader picture of greenhouse gas emissions across the whole processing supply chain.
“A raft of projects are underway,” said Euan Murray, strategy manager at the Trust. “Looking at raw materials, we’re working with [the nutrition and pharmaceutical division of] DSM, as well as British Sugar and Tate & Lyle.”
Murray said the hope was that firms would measure, and take responsibility for, their own participation in the supply chain.
“With ingredients suppliers, we want to try to build a chain model, where everyone involved gets to look after their own part of the process.”
Manufacturers further down the line would then be able to evaluate suppliers further up the chain based on their emissions. “Everyone shares the input of tracking carbon footprinting and companies can make decisions about their suppliers on that basis,” said Murray.
Processors involved in the final manufacture of a product would then incorporate figures from further up the chain into their carbon labels, allowing consumers to make more informed choices, he said.
“The Carbon Trust is in talks with ingredients and packaging suppliers to provide this sort of information.
“The best example of this is Cadbury and Coca-Cola. Both are looking for sugar emissions for their chocolate and drinks, so we have gone to British Sugar, which is finishing a project so it has got the numbers to pass down the line.”
