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Wander down any supermarket aisle in the UK today and you'll find your
conscience assaulted by a plethora of environmental and ethical claims.
There are sustainable-sourced goods endorsed by bodies including the Marine
Stewardship Council, and products officially designated organic or
Fairtrade. Then there are products labelled with their country of origin and
products marked "locally produced", products marked "in season" and products
with a sticker to show they've been flown in. And that's not to mention a
new range of labels currently under discussion as food manufacturers and
retailers attempt to clarify the situation with talk of "fair range", "air
miles", "as ethical as possible" and even "not bad" by Meg Carter .

From this month, the carbon footprint of selected grocery products will be
displayed on product packaging as part of a pioneering scheme backed by The
Carbon Trust, a Government-funded company that works with businesses to
reduce carbon emissions. It's the latest in a growing array of eco-labels
designed to help us make greener shopping choices, but it comes at a time of
growing concern that even the seemingly straightforward labels - such as
information about recycling - is leaving consumers confused.

The organisations developing green labels are increasingly stressing the
importance of giving consumers choice. "It's very important. The big risk
for all of us - and, of course, the environment - is that over time people
react badly to being told what to do," says Tom Delay, chief executive of
The Carbon Trust. "By giving consumers more information on product
labelling, you are giving them choices about how to be green rather than
using legislation to force them to be so."

Walkers cheese and onion crisps, Innocent smoothies and Boots Botanics and
Ingredients shampoos will be the first products to display The Carbon
Trust's new logo - a downward-pointing arrow above a CO2 symbol accompanied
by the grams of carbon the production of that product generated. The
labelling is a pilot scheme, but one underpinned by rigorous academic
research and detailed analysis of each company's manufacturing process and
supply chain. "It's too early to yet label a product as 'low carbon' because
we've not yet tested everything else in the market," he explains. "But the
aim is to develop one labelling system for all products so direct
comparisons can be made."

The Carbon Trust initiative is being supported by a number of leading
retailers, including Marks & Spencer and Tesco, which earlier this year
pledged to introduce carbon labelling across all of its products. Tesco,
however, does not rule out developing its own labels. "We welcome what The
Carbon Trust is doing, but they are just one of many organisations we are
talking to develop our scheme," a spokesman said.

M&S, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with the development of new green
labelling, including a picture of an aeroplane to show that a product has
been flown into the UK. This initiative is part of the company's five-year
"Plan A", which will cost ?200m. The scheme includes reducing carbon
emissions, banning waste from landfill dumps, and using unsold out-of-date
food as a source of recyclable energy. "Research shows that 80 per cent of
the 15 million people visiting our stores each week want sustainable
products," Mike Barry, M&S's head of corporate social responsibility,
explains. "A clear majority, however, want this process to be simplified.
We've made a commitment to Forestry Stewardship Council and Marine
Stewardship Council-endorsed products, Fairtrade and organic, but we are now
working to make sure the M&S brand is seen as an endorsement that any
product we stock is OK to buy."

The air-freight label is all about being transparent and giving consumers
choice, Barry says. However, Sally Uren, a director of sustainable
development charity Forum for the Future, is not so sure. "There is scope
for enormous confusion with the wealth of green labelling now being put on
products," she believes. "I have some reservations about the idea of putting
grams of carbon per pack because it is a complex issue to explain. And the
idea of labelling air freight, although useful to a point, is a clear
example of how looking at one single issue can be quite dangerous."

Take a bunch of fresh flowers grown in Africa, then flown into Britain.
Labelling it with an air-freight sticker associates it with the form of
transport with the highest level of carbon emissions, without giving any
indication of the economic lifeline buying that product might give to
African growers. A bunch of flowers grown over winter in a heated greenhouse
in the UK, she adds, is not necessarily the more sustainable option.

Barry takes the point, but stresses M&S's air-freight label is not about
carbon. "The UK hot-house versus African import point is interesting, but
our view is that there is a simple solution to the hot-house: put a wind
turbine next to it. But there is no technology yet conceived that can make
an aeroplane green," he says. "This, then, is why we want to give our
consumers the choice."

He may be right, but the nuances of his argument underline how hard it can
be to make the right choice. According to Lucy Yates, senior policy adviser
at the National Consumer Council: "In their rush to be seen to be green,
manufacturers and retailers have leapt in without thinking about whether
even their simplest labels are meaningful to consumers."

Take the familiar recycle sign. A piece of packaging is either recyclable or
not, right? Wrong. Some is recyclable. Some is made from recycled product -
produced within a so-called closed loop system in which a company collects
its own packaging waste, recycles it then re-makes it into more packaging.
Some packaging is marked as biodegradable while others simply detail what
packaging is made from without saying why. Containers labelled, "Made from
100 per cent corn starch", an alternative to oil, for example, are
compostable.

"There needs to be a lot more communication of even the most basic labels
before getting on to new ones," Yates says. "While we are supportive of
anything informing consumers about the green credentials of products, we
have to avoid ending up with the situation we now find ourselves in with
nutritional labelling on foods - where rival schemes make similar claims
that are hard to compare. This is in the best interests of no one."

Ethical labels uncovered

* ORGANIC Products grown using environmentally friendly methods: the use of
artificial fertilisers and pesticides is severely restricted and animals are
reared without the routine use of drugs.

* SOIL ASSOCIATION The word organic is defined by law and food labelled
organic must meet strict standards, the best known of which are monitored by
the Soil Association, which certifies more than 70 per cent of all UK
organic produce. A dozen or so other organic labelling systems also operate,
however.

* FAIRTRADE Products produced by farmers accredited by the Fairtrade
Foundation to ensure they are committed to improving conditions for workers
and their families. Consumers pay a premium guaranteed to go to
disadvantaged farmers.

* FREE RANGE Conveys a positive image of animals living outdoors, as nature
intended. Recent reports, however, suggest traders may be incorrectly
labelling more than one million imported battery-produced eggs as free range
each week. The situation is currently being investigated by Defra, which
sets marketing standards for free-range farming.

* LEAF The Leaf marque stands for Linking Environment and Farming and
denotes food produced by farmers committed to improving the environment.

* RECYCLE The recycle sign means a product or component can be recycled
where recycling facilities allow.

* FSC Forestry Stewardship Council labelling means wood has come from a
forest managed according to strict environmental, social and economic
standards.

* CARBON FOOTPRINT The Carbon Trust's new label (a downwards arrow above a
C02 symbol, accompanied by a number) shows the weight of carbon produced in
the manufacture of a product.

* AEROPLANE Shows a product has been flown into the UK.

* RAINFOREST ALLIANCE Products produced in compliance with Rainforest
Alliance guidelines, protecting the environment, wildlife, workers and local
communities.

* UTZ CERTIFIED Coffee products produced according to standards set by Utz
Kapeh, a global coffee certification programme, relating to socially and
environmentally responsible farming practices.

* VEGETARIAN SOCIETY APPROVED The seedling symbol shows food, drinks and
household products that are free of animal products; that eggs are free
range, products are GMO-free and that items have not been tested on animals.

* EUROPEAN ENERGY LABEL This labelling system rates electrical products'
energy efficiency from A to G.

[news.independent.co.uk]