Tesco carbon rating to force greener processing

As part of a £500 million initiative retail giant Tesco said that all products sold in its stores will receive a carbon rating, which will include the energy required for the manufacture and transportation of the packaging.

The food processing industry is a major energy consumer and discharger of greenhouse gas through its reliance on cooking, refrigeration, freezing and air compressor systems. Retailer and EU legislation is forcing industry to spend more on becoming greener.

The supermarket chain hopes the measure will encourage its customers to buy more sustainable products helping to half its carbon footprint by 2020.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are a major source of greenhouse gases that are believed to be a contributing cause to global warming.

Emission reductions have been significantly greater from domestic homes compared to industry and so harnessing consumer power by providing customers with information to make purchasing decisions with conscience may pull the food industry along.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last week stated that only by including the European Union's emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) was the UK on track to go way beyond its Kyoto carbon reduction targets.

The EU ETS set up in 2005 allows UK companies to buy emissions allowances from other EU countries, which are then taken into account when determining whether the Kyoto target and 2010 domestic goal have been met.

Official figures show that at the current rate of decline, the UK will double its Kyoto target by reducing all greenhouse gas emissions by 23.6 per cent and CO2 levels by 16.2 per cent on 1990 levels by 2010, if EU ETS are included.

On the same bases, but excluding emissions trading, the UK will reduce all greenhouse emissions by 19.8 per cent and CO2 production by 11.2 per cent.

Figures for 2005 show that compared to 1990, all greenhouse emissions have fallen by 15.3 per cent, while CO2 production has reduced by 6.4 per cent.

However, Defra said that the decrease in CO2 emissions between 2004 and 2005 was due mainly to a reduction in emissions from the domestic sector.

Environment Secretary Stephen Miliband said despite the downward trend, the 2010 domestic goal, to cut CO2 emissions by 20 per cent on 1990 levels, looked increasingly difficult to achieve.

Despite some encouraging signs, emissions from aviation - a major transportation mode for imported food to the UK - has continued to increase. According to Defra statistics, between 2004 and 2005, CO2 emissions from domestic aviation increased by 7.1 per cent, while international aviation emissions increased by 5.7 per cent due to an increased number of flights.

Airfreighting, which has come under the spotlight this month following the Soil Association's proposal to remove the organic status of imported products by air, has contributed to the doubling of emissions from aviation fuel between 1990 and 2005.

During 2005, supermarkets were sourcing two-thirds of salad vegetables and more than a third of other vegetables from abroad.

According to Defra, the transport of food by air has the highest CO2 emissions per tonne, and is the fastest growing mode.

Although air freight of food accounts for only one per cent of food tonne kilometres and 0.1 per cent of vehicle kilometres, it produces 11 per cent of the food transport CO2 equivalent emissions.

The announcement by Tesco follows supermarket rivals Marks & Spencer that recently announced it is investing £200m in a five-year plan to reduce its carbon footprint by 80 per cent by 2012.

The retailer has vowed to offset all remaining emissions to go carbon neutral.