The article in the url link below tracks the latest evolution in CSR-related consumer labeling in the UK (Special Cases of CSR: GM Labeling, p293):
“Pick up a packet of Walkers potato crisps in the UK and you might notice something unusual on the back. Alongside the normal information on how much fat, salt and calories they contain, there is another label. It informs the consumer that the bag contains only 34.5g of crisps, but 75g of carbon dioxide.”
The “virtual CO2” level on these carbon labels represents:
“… a calculation of the amount of the gas expelled into the atmosphere as a result of the processes that went into the packet's production, from growing the potato to packaging and distributing the finished crisps.”
Such developments place the power (and responsibility) largely in consumers’ hands to determine the extent to which firms will genuinely adopt a CSR perspective. We argue in Strategic CSR that it is in a firm’s best interests to strive to meet the needs and expectations of its stakeholders, broadly defined. This statement only rings true, however, if:
(a) Stakeholders actually care about CSR (Chapter 2: Do Stakeholders Care? p25); and
(b) Those stakeholders that do care (consumers in particular) are willing to punish firms that ignore their demands by taking their custom elsewhere (Chapter 2: Consumer Reaction, p35).
On the positive side:
“… the measurement and monitoring can yield useful information. All of the companies that the Carbon Trust has worked with on the labels have found they could make savings as a result of what they discovered during the process, cutting their costs at the same time as cutting their carbon output.”
On the less positive side:
“Separate research by LEK Consulting, to be published tomorrow, has found that just over half of people in the UK say they "would value details concerning a product's carbon footprint when making a buying decision". Rather under half would use this information to switch to a product or service with a lower carbon footprint, however, and only one in five would go to a less convenient retailer in order to obtain such products.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
A chance for shoppers to start counting the carbon
Manufacturers are supplying information on the environmental costs of products to convince consumers of their green credentials.
By FIONA HARVEY
1101 words
13 August 2007
Financial Times
London Ed1
Page 9
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/01879832-4903-11dc-b326-0000779fd2ac.html
