How does the consumer become a major driver in mitigating climate change?

Road testing of the first international standard on carbon footprinting is completed. The final standard will be launched soon. Reaching consumers on climate change has become the major challenge for pioneering businesses, politics and civil society.

The underlying standards for assessing and evaluating the life cycle GHG emissions associated with goods and services (product carbon footprints) are moving closer to completion. Day 1 of the upcoming PCF World Summit will update on these national and international efforts, with contributions on the GHG Protocol Product and Scope 3 standards and road testing results, ISO “Carbon Footprint of Products”, PAS 2050, the French Environmental Labelling Scheme, the recent EU study on Product Carbon Footprinting and the French Climate Certification Scheme. An overview of further international efforts is given.

Day 2 of the Summit is dedicated to communication of carbon footprint information and on climate change along the value chain. Three parallel open space tracks will explore
1. Consumer Insights: What do we know about consumers and how to engage with them towards low carbon consumption?
2. Value chain transparency: Transparency is increasingly seen as key for building trust in a product or brand. But how much transparency is needed? How much is enough?
3. Supply chain communication and collaboration: Suppliers, retailers and others increasingly demand and share carbon footprint information with each other? How can this be done so that this exchange actually creates value and not just extra burden?

Each session is facilitated by forerunners in the field and input presentations help to set the ground for the discussion. The basis for Day 2 is set with a video presentation by Daniel Goleman, author of the book “Ecological Intelligence”, who will speak about the “Value of Transparency“.

Find further information including full programme and register here.

On 22nd September 2010 the European Commission is holding a workshop presenting the results of their study on Product Carbon Footprinting methods and initiatives. Different stakeholder groups including inter alia private companies, researchers and NGOs will share and discuss their viewpoints on the study findings. The study and key issues will also be presented at the forthcoming 4th PCF World Summit in Berlin 20-21 October.

You can download an invitation and agenda of the stakeholder workshop here.

In June 2010 the roadtesting of the GHG Protocol Scope3 and Product draft standards has been completed. The majority of the participating companies found the standard feasible. Some of the roadtesters asked for more guidance for assessing their products or value chains.
The feedback is now being integrated into the pre-final drafts of the standards, which will be publicised later this month for a 30 day public comment period. Summaries of the experiences gathered during the roadtesting are available online and give insights on the practicality of the standards and the issues still to deal with.
Documentation can be found here: www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/product-and-supply-chain-standard
The 4th PCF World Forum will dedicate a special session on the roadtesting and the finalisation of the two standards.

Walmart recently released the “Supplier GHG Innovation Program: Guidance Document” which is the result of a collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and Clear Carbon Consult. This document, mainly for internal use, provides a framework for identifying significant reduction opportunities in the supply chain and quantifying them afterwards. To meet the minimum criteria within the GHG Innovation Program the reduction projects have to be additional, i.e. go beyond business as usual in terms of emission reductions and have to be finished by December 2015.
February this year, Walmart announced the reduction of 20 Mio t CO2e within the next five years. Walmart conducted a sustainability assessment with her suppliers and now invites them to identify and measure emission reductions on the basis of the guidance document and in cooperation with her project partners.

The Carbon Disclosure Project is currently working on the third CDP Supply Chain Report. In August the analysts started reading and scoring the suppliers´ responses for the disclosure period 2010. Since 2008 the CDP is requesting data from international companies and their value chain partners concerning their carbon management. Strategic awareness, carbon reduction ambition, reporting capabilities and implementation practices are the major issues being assessed. More than 40 international companies and 700 suppliers took part in the last years programme. Interpretation of the data showed that companies more and more adjust their supply base according to green criteria.
The CDP will co-host a discussion on supply chain collaboration and communication at the 4th PCF World Summit in Berlin 20-21 October.