Is It Me, Or Is There A Hidden Agenda Here?

So, not a full week after we found out that all the labels confused the hell out of shoppers, as well as (ultimately) costing them more, we find there’s going to be another one:

Shoppers familiar with seeing fair trade, organic or rainforest labels during their weekly shop will have to get used to another logo: the carbon footprint.

Oh, perfect…

The Centre for Retail Research forecasts that annual sales of the Carbon Reduction Label run by the publicly funded Carbon Trust would hit £2bn by the end of 2010, putting it behind only the Red Tractor farm assurance scheme (£10bn), but ahead of the Soil Association's organic mark (£1.5bn); Fairtade (£800m); RSPCA Freedom Foods (£800m), and the smaller Rainforest Alliance and Marine Stewardship Council schemes.

In other words, it’s expected to be bigger and better than all the other useless little logos that are plastered all over our food packaging.

Tesco has been the most enthusiastic supporter of the scheme, carrying out a commitment made three years ago to carbon label all of its 70,000 food lines.

Really? Then this just goes to show how utterly pointless it is, as I shopped at Tesco on Tuesday and I didn’t even notice…

I note, however, that there may well be a hidden agenda here, even beyond the ecofacists usual plans:

However, other products have not been included, possibly because shoppers would be put off by how much pollution they generate. Meat has "astronomical" emissions according to one supermarket source, something borne out by research. A study by Japan's National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science found three years ago that 1kg of beef released the equivalent of 36kg of CO2.

How interesting…

And it doesn’t stop there:

Alcohol, too, has high emissions. While a 330ml can of Coca-Cola has 170 grams, Adnams eco-bitter East Green has 432 grams per half-litre.

Hmmm….

What are their long-term goals, I wonder?

Currently, these insights are interesting, but they could become more important. Two years ago the Commons Environmental Audit committee said the Government should give everyone a personal carbon allowance.

If we won’t voluntarily go veggie, they’ll find a way to price it out of existence. And the same for alcohol.

Euan Murray, the Carbon Trust's head of footprinting, said he did not know if all products would eventually be carbon labelled, but added: "We are increasingly seeing people recognise that things have a carbon footprint, and they want to do something about it."

I don’t.

I think you’ll find most people won’t, either, when they realise what it’ll mean for them…

Let's hope that the food industry doesn't simply roll over for this. The tobacco industry, as Leg-Iron points out, seems to be a lost cause. They clearly never heeded the advice of Winston Churchill on feeding crocodiles...