Carbon labelling is often touted as a way of enabling consumers to shop sustainably. But is trialling carbon labels just a PR exercise or can communicating the climate change impacts of everyday products to consumers genuinely drive consumer behaviour for the better?

Forum for the Future’s independent research on this subject – sponsored by Lloyd’s Register – included consumer focus groups, expert interviews and surveys. The aim was to explore the role that carbon labelling has to play if the goal is a low-carbon shopping basket.

Culminating in our report, Check-out carbon, the research highlighted that we need a much more strategic, prioritised approach to messages about the climate change impacts of products. Businesses need to give consumers genuine options, rather than just information. Consumers also want business and government to help them shop sustainably by removing the worst offending products from the shelves.

Check-out carbon first identifies the key debates around carbon labelling before providing practical recommendations for moving these debates forward.

To download a copy of the report, click the link below. To watch a video of Peter Madden, CEO of Forum for the Future, speaking about carbon labelling, please visit the project page.

Download now: Check-out carbon