Products to be labelled with their carbon footprint

The Government says that it shares the goal of increasing transparency around carbon impact of products.

The Government has agreed not to oppose a Labour Party bill which would see products labelled with their carbon footprint.

Dublin Fingal TD Duncan Smith's National Standards Authority of Ireland (Carbon Footprint Labelling) Bill 2021 would provide the carbon footprint on every product to "end greenwashing and provide consumers with carbon information". 

It would place an obligation on the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) to define a standard approach to carbon labelling.

It will be discussed in the Dáil today, where the Government will not oppose it, but will introduce a timed amendment so that it will be read a second time in November 2022 to allow time for a Regulatory Impact Assessment and the development of EU proposals. 

The Government says that it shares the goal of increasing transparency around carbon impact of products.

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A Government spokesperson said that while broadly supportive, there are potential barriers to trade in Mr Smith's bill. 

They said that international and European standards must be set out as well as Irish.

"The Government agrees that it is important that there is transparency and consumer choice around the carbon footprint of products, facilitating informed product choice and promoting consumer preferences that incentivise the supply of products through manufacturing processes and supply chains with lower carbon footprints."

They said to create a legal obligation to act in a specific area would be contrary to Ireland’s international standards obligations "which require that standards development work is stopped at national level if there is work under way at either European or international level". 

"There are already a number of international standards in place or under development in the area of greenhouse gas emission and carbon footprinting. 

"It is in Ireland’s interest to participate in implementing solutions based on national adoptions of European or international standards.

"As set out in the Climate Action Plan, we’ll be launching a new website shortly, called the Climate Toolkit 4 Business. 

Businesses will be able to input some simple information and get an estimate of their carbon footprint and a personalised plan to reduce it.

Labour TD Ivana Bacik described the bill as a "hugely important measure to support consumers in making informed choices about purchasing sustainably produced products".

"We believe that given the ambitious targets we've adopted in our own climate legislation, given the debate we've seen over the last two weeks at COP 26 in Glasgow, that it is now imperative that we put in place a whole array of measures to support communities and individuals and households in making informed decisions around sustainable products," she said.

However, Labour colleague Seán Sherlock admitted that the practicalities around measuring the footprint of products would be "challenging" as part of carbon labelling.

"A carrot produced in East Cork might have a different carbon footprint to a carrot produced in Kilkenny, that is absolutely acknowledged. 

"There's no question about the challenge that we're facing here," Mr Sherlock said.

But he added that we have to "get the ball rolling" on carbon labelling.