The CRed (Carbon Reduction) Programme is part of the Low Carbon Innovation Centre based at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. CRed works with businesses, individuals and local authorities to generate carbon saving measures which lead to its partners achieving a 60 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide levels by 2020. Although CRed is broadly a community-based programme it has a very active consultancy wing.

Marcus Armes has responsibility for business development and government liaison within the CRed team. Before joining CRed Marcus worked in environmental chemistry and later went on to spend three years as a parliamentary researcher, writing speeches and briefing documents on science issues for various MPs. He uses his political links to deliver the expertise gained from CRed to policy makers at all levels of government.

Is CRed a local, community-based service or an international business-oriented organisation?

"We have always believed that it is important to be seen to be working with communities all over the world, as climate change is very much an international challenge. Also the international dimension adds weight when we are trying to convince local householders and businesses that they need to do their bit to combat climate change.

"To be able to say we are working with the Chinese and Americans gives people a sense that they are part of a much bigger movement when they sign up to carbon reduction activities.

"To date we have worked with around 100 businesses at both local and national levels, and our clients include household names such as E.ON, HSBC and Norwich Union. Perhaps our most unusual project to date as been our work with the brewer Adnams on the UK's first carbon neutral beer, East Green.

"However, we reach more householders through the adoption of our carbon reduction pledging system by local authorities, such as Birmingham and Essex. Currently we have over 100,000 UK householders signed up to over 300,000 pledges. We also work closely with grassroots organisations, such as Groundwork, as we are keen to deliver our message to the less well off, whose need to use energy efficiently is often more based on keeping bills down than lofty aspirations about saving the planet.

"Our work in China is now largely based around partnerships with Chinese universities, such as Fudan in Shanghai who are running a CRed programme on their campus. The intention is to spin this out to the city itself and this very much fits in with our ethos of universities taking the lead on action on climate change in their host communities."

Who funds CRed?

"Initially CRed was funded by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to lift the profile of the climate change issues with businesses and to assist in driving forward a low carbon economy in the region. And indeed at the time of our launch back in 2003 carbon reduction still had a fairly low profile.

"However, the last of our EEDA funding ran out in 2006 and since then we have broadened our funding base with some money coming from corporate organisations such as HSBC, but the majority of our funding now comes through consultancy work with the corporate sector and the sale of the CRed System and carbon reduction strategy to local authorities.

"Whilst in some respects this has taken us away from our community roots, in other ways working with the commercial world has enabled us to get involved in projects which introduce new communities to low carbon thinking.

"For example, our work with E.ON on their Carbonfootyprint campaign encouraged football fans to offset the emissions arising from their teams' participation in the FA Cup. We are also working with the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) on their £1 million Big Green Challenge fund which to date has created 10 community-based projects."

Please tell us about your links with the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia

"The founding father of CRed was Professor Trevor Davies who was formerly Director of CRU, so our links with both CRU and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, which shares a building at UEA with CRed, are very close indeed.

"Obviously having a large number of leading climate scientist on our doorstep is a massive plus for us, as it lends us credibility and enables us to pick the brains of real experts when technical issues arise. Unsurprisingly this has led to a number of environmental consultancies asking us to partner them in bids for funded work on climate change strategies and carbon reduction."

What initiatives with the business community have you undertaken?

"As well as the ventures with E.ON and Adnams I mentioned earlier we have been involved in a host of small scale initiatives with business large and small. These range from simply supplying articles on carbon reduction and climate change issues, to hands-on carbon auditing aimed at helping a business identify where best to make efficiencies which reduce their carbon footprint.

"We are currently working with the building giant Barratt Homes and developer Building Partnerships on planning an eco community on the outskirts of Norwich."

What about work with the agricultural sector?

"The agriculture sector is a major contributor to the basket of greenhouse gas emissions but it also offers great opportunities to mitigate climate change. CRed has just finished a piece of work funded by Natural England to refine the development of an on-line tool to assist farmers reduce their carbon footprint. We have also just completed an in-depth analysis of the carbon footprint of the RSPB's Hope Farm in Cambridgeshire.

"We are also working with Norwich City Council and various European partners on a European funded project to look at the impact of biofuels in vehicle fleets. This work is probably the closest we come to undertaking pure research, so don't be surprised to see the CRed logo on some of the City's buses when you next visit Norwich."

How do you engage the local community?

"Largely through the CRed Pledge System I mentioned earlier. However the CRed team attend numerous events, such as agricultural shows, and give hundreds of talks and presentations to community groups, councils and schools. Really there is no substitute for face-to-face contact when it comes to putting over the climate change message."

Of which low carbon achievements are you particularly proud?

"I would have to say the Carbonfootyprint campaign which engaged tens of thousands of football fans in carbon reduction. Dr Simon Gerrard and I came up with the idea and we trialled the scheme with Ipswich Town FC and E.ON loved the project and rolled it out across the FA Cup competition. I am an avid Norwich City fan so working with Ipswich did not come easy, but credit to them and Ipswich Borough Council for running with the idea and making it such a success."

Are the revised Government carbon reduction targets achievable?

"Yes, but we must start now and ensure that resources are available and bring the public along with us. We have the technology to achieve a low carbon economy but we must build the collective will."

What is the biggest obstacle to a low carbon economy?

"It is people's resistance to, and fear of, change."

What are you working on right now?

"We are heavily involved in carbon footprinting the built environment. On the more behavioural side CRed is still enjoying working with NESTA on the their Big Green Challenge fund, as this keeps us up to speed with how communities are tackling carbon reduction. On a personal note I am continuing to focus in on working with politicians from all parties to put across the learning we have picked up from five years working with both the public and business on carbon reduction."

What advice do you have for fellow low-carbon pioneers?

"Get out there and talk to people about practical carbon reduction measures and explain how these measures can help reduce their bills, secure their energy supply and ensure that their children inherit a world worth living in."

CRed can be contacted on http://www.cred-uk.org/

Signed, Sealed, Delivered – The Carbon Label

Along with its more familiar ingredients, Black Label beer from Japan’s Sapporo breweries will in future list a new piece of information – the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in producing each can.

Consumers will learn that each 350-ml can releases 161 grams of the greenhouse gas in the production process. This covers output from all stages of manufacture and distribution, including emissions from fertilizers, grain, transportation, refrigeration and recycling.

The Sapporo move, the first by a private company in Japan, is part of a government-backed initiative to encourage carbon footprint labelling across Japan’s industries and raise public awareness of the footprint of domestic products. It is thought that around 30 companies, including Sapporo, are in discussion with the government about a trial scheme planned for launch next spring. Retailers Aeon, Seven Eleven, Seiyu, Uny, Lawson, and Matsushita Electric are all thought to be involved.

Japan has set a target for a 60% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2050. However, bringing the private sector on board is proving to be tricky. This summer, plans by Prime Minister Fukuda to meet reduction targets using a cap-and-trade scheme of the kind seen in the EU were opposed by powerful industry groups, including the Japan Business Federation, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, and the Federation of Electric Power Companies.

Tougher emission targets will force companies to shift their production from Japan to other countries, warned the president of Nippon Steel, the world’s second largest steelmaker behind ArcelorMittal.

PAS 2050 arrives

So in the short term at least, Japan is pinning its hopes on carbon labelling to deliver the reductions it seeks. Whether this will work remains to be seen, but in the UK, work on carbon labelling is also gathering momentum. Led by the Carbon Trust, work in this area splits into two main parts: the BSI British Standards Publicly Available Specification for assessing the life cycle emissions of goods and services (PAS 2050), and a Code of Good Practice for product emissions and reduction claims.

PAS 2050 describes a common approach to assessing the life cycle emissions of goods and services, while the Code of Good Practice sets out requirements for making consistent and credible claims about emissions and reductions measured using PAS 2050. Formally launched in October 2008, PAS 2050 draws on pilot projects with 75 product ranges from companies such as PepsiCo, Boots, Innocent, Marshalls, Tesco, Cadbury, Kimberly Clark, and Coors Brewers.

To build on this work Tesco is deploying the label on 20 of its own-brand products in four different categories: laundry detergent, orange juice, potatoes and light bulbs. The label tells customers how much greenhouse gas is produced throughout the life of each product, including use and disposal. On some products the label includes advice for customers on how they can reduce emissions, such as washing clothes at a lower temperature, for example. To support the label, Tesco has launched a ‘Greener Living’ website and booklets in its larger stores.

A key driver behind the decision to go ahead with carbon labels was consumer research carried out by Tesco in 2006, says sustainability manager Katherine Symonds. The research suggested that the environmental impact of products influences the purchase decisions of customers – as has been demonstrated by the market for organic foods – and the growing realisation that small actions can add up to a big difference. “Our experience with plastic carrier bags showed this. We gave out 40% fewer in August 2008 than we did in August 2006,” says Symonds. But the main factor was the concern of customers about global warming, and their interest in having more information about what they could do to help, she says.

Crucially, there were benefits for the company too, says Symonds. “Amazing amounts of knowledge were acquired in doing this. For example, we found that refrigerants accounted for a fifth of the carbon footprint for some products. It gave us valuable insights into issues such as slow leaks of refrigerant gases, for example,” she says.

Low carbon landscape

Although interest in carbon labelling has focused on retailers, one of the most significant achievements in the UK has come from a manufacturer of stone and concrete landscaping products for the construction, home improvement and landscape markets. With a workforce of 3,000, Marshalls operates its own quarries and manufacturing sites, as well as 12 service centres and 14 offices across the UK.

From October 2008, all of Marshalls’ 503 domestic landscaping products will be carbon labelled, possibly the largest number of labelled products from a single company anywhere in the world.

There were several reasons why the company decided to go down this route, says Group Marketing Director Chris Harrop. The public is rapidly becoming better informed about carbon emissions through media coverage of a range of issues, including climate science, the economic impacts predicted by the Stern Review, and the response of governments, says Harrop. Specific policies such as the Carbon Reduction Commitment and the targets it sets out will be a significant challenge for companies that fail to act promptly and thoroughly, he suggests. Last but by no means least, Marshalls has been in business since the 1880s, and plans to be here for a while yet. “We take a forward view of the marketplace, and want to be around in another 120 years,” Harrop says.

Gathering the data needed to label its products required Marshalls to map its supply chain accurately, a tough task. The company’s approach was to do this in two distinct phases. The first involved a small team of four senior staff who drew up a very broad impact and risk assessment, identifying parts of the supply chain where the heaviest production of carbon dioxide is likely to occur. “That looked at obtaining heavy amounts of raw material such as stone, our use of concrete and cement – which has a high carbon footprint – and stone quarried overseas, in India, for example,” says Harrop. In looking at the latter the PAS 2050 methodology was extremely helpful, he says.

The second phase required bringing 60 sites on board, chiefly through site managers. “It wasn’t that onerous as it happens. The big fear is that this will take a lot of time and effort, but PAS 2050 is very pragmatic. The whole process took around 14 months from start to finish,” he says.

In addition to improving the company’s view of its own processes Marshalls has seen considerable outside interest in the labelling scheme, including potential customers. “We’ve had thousands of hits on the carbon calculator on our website, and lots of welcoming feedback from architects, construction companies, and local authorities. We think architects will be more likely to choose our products,” says Harrop.

Overall, Harrop has two pieces of advice for companies considering a labelling scheme. “A lot of the necessary information exists in a business, although it’s not always in the right place or in the right format. Companies are being inundated with emails from consultants offering to help them map their footprints. My advice to anyone going down this route would be to use the Carbon Trust methodology,” he says.

Key questions:

• What emissions data will our customers and partners expect us to provide?
• What moves could our competitors make to satisfy that demand?
• How might carbon labelling help us to become more efficient, and meet our CRC obligations?