8.1.1

Climate understanding and visibility

Without adequate information on the climate impacts of different retail products and services, customers will be unable to make informed decisions on the products they buy and how they use them. Ensuring that there is clearly understandable and comparable information available at the point of sale and use is critical to helping customers make the transition to low carbon lifestyles. 

While there are some customer information systems in use (including appliance energy ratings, carbon footprint label and washing instructions), there is not a universally accepted, or widely used approach across retail categories. 

Routes to decarbonisation

Providing customers with information at the point of sale enables decision making on the product options with the lowest carbon footprint. Providing customers with information at point of use will support adoption of low carbon behaviours. Companies like ecosphere+ partner with retailers to offer a ‘price of carbon’ attributable to each purchase. The emissions factors for products are embedded directly in point of sale systems so customers have immediate feedback on the climate intensity of their purchases. Services like these can also offer microtransactions that allow customers to offset their shopping with the purchase of carbon removal credits.