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Carbon Trust to Design Eco-Labeling Scheme for Mexico

The Carbon Trust has been selected to develop an environmental labeling scheme for products and services in Mexico, designed to promote sustainable purchasing and procurement for consumers, companies and the public sector.The objective of the project is to drive the international competitiveness and economic efficiency of Mexican industry through more sustainable production. It will also provide a commonly recognised set of criteria to ensure that environmental claims about products and services are properly substantiated. The project is funded through the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Prosperity Fund, as administered through the British Embassy in Mexico City.Cuauhtémoc Ochoa Fernandez, Mexico’s Undersecretary of Development and Environmental Regulation, said:

By Jennifer Elks | Published 11 years ago | About a 3 minute read

The objective of the project is to drive the international competitiveness and economic efficiency of Mexican industry through more sustainable production. It will also provide a commonly recognised set of criteria to ensure that environmental claims about products and services are properly substantiated. The project is funded through the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Prosperity Fund, as administered through the British Embassy in Mexico City.

Cuauhtémoc Ochoa Fernandez, Mexico’s Undersecretary of Development and Environmental Regulation, said:

"We are glad to be working with the Carbon Trust to develop a footprinting and labeling scheme adapted to the needs and conditions of Mexico. We have been impressed with the Carbon Trust’s unrivaled experience in the successful design and implementation of eco-labeling projects.

The Carbon Trust will be working with SEMARNAT, the Mexican government’s secretariat of the environment and natural resources, as well as representatives from Mexican businesses, NGOs and the public sector. This project helps to meet certain obligations in the Mexican government’s Law for Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection, in which there is a requirement to ensure the sustainability of economic activities.

In delivering the project, the Carbon Trust will develop a methodological framework to quantify the carbon footprint of Mexican products and services, along with a mechanism for certification and labeling that meets Mexico's needs.

Upon completion of the framework, SEMARNAT and Carbon Trust will seek funding for subsequent phases of this project. This will involve a pilot phase of the scheme to evaluate how it works in practice, which will be followed by a wider roll-out.

“We are very pleased to see Mexico’s appetite to grapple with the critical area of footprinting and labeling as part of its wider commitment to taking action on climate change," said Martin Barrow, Head of Footprinting at the Carbon Trust. "But we need to be realistic, and remain aware that we need to make this work against a backdrop that many companies and individuals do not see this as a priority right now.

“For this scheme to succeed it will need to work for businesses right now, by providing value through footprinting as well as labeling. Footprinting allows customers to reduce costs, improve efficiency, remove waste, minimise risks, and meet the needs of customers more efficiently, whilst labeling can have a big impact beyond just engaging consumers, especially in supporting sales to businesses and governments.

“We plan to build a scheme where the business value exceeds the cost of participating for as many companies and as many products as possible. So that smaller companies can benefit we will look into the provision of a simpler common infrastructure tailored to individual sectors.”

"The green growth that this project will unlock has the potential to address economic and environmental challenges, and to strengthen new sources of growth through productivity, innovation, and open new markets.”

Richard Shackleton, First Secretary for Climate Change, Energy and Low Carbon Growth at the British Embassy in Mexico, said: “The British Government is committed to helping developing countries like Mexico achieve the transition to becoming a high-growth economy with low carbon emissions. This includes embracing ideas such as energy efficiency, sustainable production and consumption, and promoting the creation of green jobs in the new technologies and markets of the future.”

The Carbon Trust's mission is to help accelerate the move to a low-carbon economy by helping organizations in all sectors increase efficiency and conserve resources. The Carbon Trust Standard for greenhouse gas emissions, as well as its new Water and Waste Standards, recognize organizations that achieve a certain level of improvement in these areas.