03 Oct 2007


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Műller Dairy UK signs up for Carbon Trust scheme

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Source : Műller Dairy UK
Müller Dairy UK has become the first dairy company in the UK to join the Carbon Trust initiative which measures the carbon footprint of a product or service and identifies areas where carbon emissions can be reduced.

Stewart Gilliland

The UK's leading yogurt manufacturer is one of nine high profile companies to use the draft product carbon footprinting standard which is being developed by the Carbon Trust, Defra and BSI British Standards to measure the embodied greenhouse gas emissions of products and services.

The key objective of the Carbon Trust is to accelerate the UK's move to a low carbon economy by developing commercial low carbon technologies and helping organisations reduce their carbon emissions.

Of the nine partners involved in the projects, two-thirds operate in the fmcg market. The fmcg manufacturers are: Coca-Cola, Cadbury Schweppes, Kimberly-Clark, Müller Dairy UK and Scottish & Newcastle.

The other partners include The Co-operative Group - one of the country's leading wholesale and retail operators; Aggregate Industries and Marshalls - two hard landscaping companies; and the Halifax bank.

Through participating in the scheme Müller Dairy UK aims to identify the carbon footprint of one of its brands by measuring its impact on the environment in terms of the greenhouse gas emissions generated throughout the supply chain from sourcing raw materials, through the production and packaging processes, to transport, distribution and storage, consumer use and disposal and recycling.

The project aims to highlight areas in the supply chain where there is the potential to reduce carbon emissions. It is the intention of Muller to reduce product carbon emissions and to work together with the Carbon Trust to explore the best way to communicate this information to consumers.

The Carbon Trust has created a carbon reduction label that can be used by companies measuring their carbon footprint to communicate the embodied carbon emissions information to consumers. In order to retain usage of the Carbon Trust label, companies must sustain reductions in carbon emissions over a two year period.

Stewart Gilliland, CEO of Müller Dairy UK, comments: “Carbon emissions from production facilities, and the resulting contribution to climate change, is one of the biggest challenges that manufacturers face today and we understand how vital it is to reduce our impact on the environment.

“Consumer research shows that two of the top three issues consumers think companies should be doing more about are concern for the environment and conserving energy, and this is being reflected in consumer purchasing habits. You only have to look at the increase in sales of sustainable products in the UK to see that these issues are becoming an increasingly important part of the purchasing decision for consumers.”

Gilliland adds: “It is important for us to establish the impact our products have on the environment and see where sustainable improvements can be made. This was already part of our agenda and we are pleased to be involved with the Carbon Trust as this will help us to accelerate this initiative.

“Once we understand how the carbon footprint of one of our brands is made up and the steps which we can take to minimize carbon emissions, this will provide us with a blueprint enabling us to measure the carbon footprint across our portfolio of brands and to adapt the future development of our business. We look forward to seeing the results and hope our involvement with the Carbon Trust will also encourage other manufacturers to do the same”.

Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, commented: “We are delighted to be working with Müller Dairy UK as one of the new pilot partners to be involved in the next stage of development of a product carbon footprinting standard. UK businesses are increasingly looking to tackle the indirect emissions from products and services.

“This has been boosted by a rise in demand from consumers for more information on the climate change impacts of products coupled with the desire from companies to become more energy and carbon efficient. The unprecedented level of interest we have had in this initiative makes me confident that by working with manufacturers and producers to reduce indirect carbon emissions, we can move the UK another step closer to a low carbon economy.”

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