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The UK's Carbon Trust has inked an alliance with the China
Energy Conservation Investment Corporation (CECIC) that
will see the two organisations begin on work on introducing
carbon footprint labels to products manufactured in China.
The announcement - which comes on the same day as Defra released
a new report showing that carbon emissions associated
with imports to the UK have soared over the past decade -
underlines the growing pressure on firms to address not just
their own carbon emissions, but also those of their supply
chain partners.
The Carbon
Trust said that it would initially work with CECIC
to measure the embedded carbon footprint of ten Chinese-manufactured
products using the PAS 2050 standard, which is being
developed in the UK in conjunction with firms such as Tesco
and Boots and is designed to assess the full lifecycle
emissions of individual products.
The project - which will be accompanied by a second feasibility
study into how the Carbon Trust can promote UK clean tech
firms within China - is expected to act a forerunner for a
full-blown joint venture committed to establishing a carbon
labelling scheme across China.
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband welcomed the partnership,
claiming that the co-operation should help lower the cost
of green products and services. "The core carbon challenge
is to bring down the costs of low carbon goods and technologies,
as compared to the high carbon alternatives" - he said.
"By working together on common standards and technology
development, the UK and China have the opportunity to drive
down the costs of low carbon goods and technologies - making
it easier for global firms and consumers to make climate-friendly
choices."
Meanwhile, Defra has released new research highlighting the
extent to which global supply chains and the emergence of
developing economies as major manufacturing hubs, have contributed
to rising carbon emissions.
The report, which was undertaken by Stockholm Environment
Institute and the University of Sydney, assessed the emissions
arising from CO2 emissions created by
goods and services imported into the UK. It found that, while
emissions from within the UK fell by around five per cent
between 1992 and 2004, taking imports, exports and international
transport into account revealed that overall CO2
emissions associated with UK consumption of goods and services,
rose 18 per cent over the same period - an increase of nearly
115 mtCO2.
The report concluded that the rising emissions were the result
of an increase in the proportion of goods and services that
are imported and a shift in the manufacturing industry from
the UK to countries where processes tend to be more carbon
intensive.
UK Environment secretary Hilary Benn said that the research
underlined the extent to which climate change could only be
tackled if businesses and governments address the carbon emissions
that arise from global supply chains. "Under international
climate change agreements, we only have direct influence over
our domestic emissions and they are - and will remain - the
basis for these commitments" - he said.
"But as we accelerate the move to a low carbon economy,
we must help business and individuals to understand and reduce
the environmental impacts of the products and services they
produce, sell or consume - wherever in the world they are
made."
He added that cutting levels of imports would prove damaging
to developing economies and, as such, UK firms and businesses
needed to work to "reduce the impact of supply chains
across the world, not just in the UK".
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