Businesses will be able to more accurately measure the carbon footprint of their goods and services with a new standard launched by BSI British Standards, the Carbon Trust and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The standard – which has the catchy title PAS 2050 – will count CO2 emissions of products throughout their entire life cycle, from sourcing raw materials to manufacture, distribution, use and disposal. The aim is to help businesses identify opportunities for reducing emissions in the design, making and supplying of products.

The Carbon Trust has already trialled PAS 2050 with 75 product ranges across a wide range of companies, including the likes of Boots, Cadbury, Coca Cola, Halifax, Innocent, Sainsbury’s and Tesco among others.

The trials have been hailed as a success and resulted in Boots redesigning its logistics network for the Botanics shampoo range so that products could be delivered direct to stores, reducing road miles and packaging – cutting the carbon footprint of making the shampoo by 10 per cent.

Carbon Trust chief exec Tom Delay said:

“For the first time, businesses have a robust, consistent standard for measuring the carbon footprint of their goods and services. This exciting development will help businesses to really understand the carbon impact of their products and to follow this up with tangible ways to cut carbon emissions across the supply chain.”

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