Do consumers care about carbon footprints? - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.

And I'm Neil.

That's a tasty chocolate bar you're

munching on there, Neil.

Tasty but maybe not healthy.

But at least on the wrapper there's a

label to tell you about its sugar,

fat and calorie content.

Yes, the little coloured guide on the

wrapper allows consumers to compare

the healthiness of different things.

Well, in this programme, we'll be

looking at an idea to add a label

showing the carbon footprint of a

product, and talking about some

vocabulary used around this subject.

By carbon footprint we mean how

much carbon is used through the

activities of a person, company or

country. This new system sounds

like a good idea, Sam.

Yes - but as normal, we still have

a question for you to answer first.

I think we all agree we want to

reduce our carbon footprint

somehow - but according to the

Centre for Research into Energy

Demand Solutions, how many tonnes

of CO2 equivalent per person annually

could be reduced by living car-free?

Is it: a) Around 1 tonne,

b) Around 2 tonnes, or

c) Around 3 tonnes?

I'm sure living without a car would

reduce CO2, so I'll say

c) around 3 tonnes.

OK, Neil, we'll find out if that's

right at the end of the

programme. But let's talk

more about carbon labelling.

Listing the carbon dioxide

emissions of a product on the

packaging may encourage us

to make greener choices.

It's not a new idea but it's

something that's never caught on -

become popular or fashionable.

Until now. The idea now seems to

have returned, and it's something

the BBC World Service programme

The Climate Question has been

looking into. They've been speaking

to business leaders about adding

labelling to their products.

Such as Marc Engel, Chief Supply

Chain Officer at Unilever. Let's hear

why he thinks the idea is

growing in popularity.

What we are seeing is Generation Z

and Millennials, are much much

more willing to make choices,

informed choices, about

responsible products and brands,

so that's also why we're also

doing it. At the end of the day,

we're doing it because we believe

that this is what consumers will

ask from business - this is not

something that we

made up ourselves.

So, in this case, it seems it's people

buying Unilever products who are

driving this change - particularly

younger people from Gen Z.

So people born towards the end

of the 20th Century or the

beginning of the 21st Century,

or slightly older Millennials.

They want to make 'informed choices'

about what they buy - so, making

decisions based on good and

accurate information. Carbon

labelling is part of that information.

And Marc Engel mentioned consumers

wanting to buy 'responsible' products

or brands. Here, that means 'rusted'

or 'reliable' with less

environmental impact.

That all makes sense, and it's

why Unilever recently announced

it's committed to putting carbon

footprint information on

70,000 products. The Climate

Question programme also spoke

to Dr Zaina Gadema-Cooke - an expert

in supply chain management at

Northumbria University. What does she

call measuring a product's

carbon footprint?

The problem with footprinting is it's

almost impossible to include the

consumption stage associated with

the consumer because we all deal

with the products that we purchase

and dispose of differently. So, it's

very difficult to include that - so

'farm-to-fork' calculations tend to

really be 'farm-to-retail-shelf' calculations

of carbon footprint loadings.

So, Dr Zaina Gadema-Cooke describes

the measurement of a product's carbon

footprint as 'footprinting'. And this, she

says, is difficult to measure because we

don't know what people do with the stuff

after they have bought it.

Yes, so for example, a carbon label

might show an estimate of the carbon

footprint of milk from the cow to

the consumer - what Dr Zaina

Gadema-Cooke calls 'farm to fork' but

after it leaves the supermarket shelf,

we don't know how efficiently it is

stored, how much is wasted and

what happens to the packaging.

It's all food for thought - something

to think seriously about.

And, Sam, what did you think about

my answer to your question earlier?

Ah yes, I asked you - according to the

Centre for Research into Energy

Demand Solutions, how many

tonnes of CO2 equivalent per

person annually - could be

reduced by living car-free?

And I said around 3 tonnes.

Which was actually, a bit too much.

Research found living car-free

reduces a person's annual CO2

production by an

average of 2.04 tonnes.

Anyway, let's briefly recap some

of the vocabulary we've

mentioned today.

Yes, we've been talking about

measuring our carbon footprint - that's

how much carbon is used through the

activities of a person, company or country.

And footprinting is an informal way of

saying measuring the carbon

footprint of something.

When something has caught on it

means it has become popular or

fashionable. And, making informed

choices means making decisions

based on good and

accurate information.

Buying something that is

responsible means that it is

trusted or reliable. And, the phrase

from farm to fork describes the

processes involved from

agricultural production

to consumption.

We're out of time now, but thanks

for listening. Bye for now.

Goodbye.