What products have environmental labels today?
Cars in the U.S. have long had what amounts to environmental labels: Stickers reporting their average fuel economy as measured according to federal rules. Now, many consumer-goods companies are introducing labels detailing their product’s contribution of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Tesco PLC, the U.K.-based grocery retailer, last year began putting foot-shaped labels on products such as laundry detergent and orange juice. Each lists the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the manufacture and use of the product — the product’s so-called “carbon footprint.” Timberland Co., a New Hampshire footwear company, also puts carbon labels on several models of shoes it sells. The labels rate the shoes from zero, which is best, to 10, which is worst. Patagonia Inc., the California-based outdoor-equipment maker, has computed and posted on its Web site the carbon footprints of 229 of its products, or about 38% of those it sells, though it doesn’t affix environmental labels to the products th
