Unilever will test the idea of putting carbon-footprint values on its packaging that would delineate the environmental impact of individual products.
The initial program will involve up to two dozen products in Europe and/or North America, in a test scheduled to be conducted by the end of this year. Unilever, which has roughly 75,000 products, plans to measure the carbon footprint of at least 30,000 of them over the next six months. The company said it’s aiming to have a comprehensive carbon footprint labeling program in place by the end of 2022.
Unilever has been conducting focus groups to determine exactly how the system will work. Carbon footprint theoretically encompasses the entire environmental impact of a product, from agriculture to transportation into stores.
One possibility is to use “carbon dioxide equivalents,” which convert other gases used or produced in food processing to the supposed equivalent in carbon dioxide. This method is precise but is not understood by many consumers. An alternative is a “traffic light” system that assigns products into broad categories based on environmental impact. Such systems are easy to comprehend but lack nuance.
Unilever suggested that eventually, retailers might want to establish “low carbon footprint” aisles to appeal to environmentally conscious shoppers.
