Carbon labelling: evidence, issues and questions

The proposal is that our carbon intensive goods and services should contribute to lower carbon emissions and be redefined in light of climate change. A carbon label has the potential to be an important part of this redefinition, but should be built on a successful consensus about what a carbon label should do, how and how this is best delivered. This briefing paper provides a broad review of evidence and poses pertinent questions surrounding the development of carbon labelling.

This report is split up into a series of questions, each of which includes relevant research findings, key issues and questions and implications of these for further work or labelling. They are highly interactive, as a decision on one has considerable influence on other factors. This report is accompanied by an appendix that contains more in-depth explanations and reviews of pertinent studies, papers and protocols. Although a carbon label may apply to all consumer goods, this report is focussed on food.