No one person or organisation will solve climate change, it’s all about the incremental changes we can make on a daily basis. We want to make it easier for people to take small steps to reduce their impact on the environment. 

Labour’s Carbon Labelling Bill would do this by giving consumers information about the environmental impact of products. If enacted, shoppers could compare and contrast products and choose a more sustainable item should they wish to do so. It empowers people with information.

In the same way that people have nutritional data to manage their health, carbon data would let people can manage their climate impact. Research suggests that nutritional labelling reduced consumers’ intake of calories by almost 7% – there is a clear opportunity to help people to do the same with their carbon footprint.

We are hounded by buzzwords, slogans, flag flying by corporates on their green credentials that we don’t have the time or information to fully understand. Our bill would ensure that people have independent and comparable figures, that include corporates’ processes and practices, in recognisable and reliable standard measures. This will shine a light on businesses and showcase the best in class in producing in a climate efficient way.

By putting carbon labelling on products, we’re putting an awareness of the steps we can take to slow climate change into people’s everyday lives.