The Carbon Trust is in São Paulo this week hosting a workshop for Brazilian government representatives and industry stakeholders, as the first step in determining the best approach for a new sustainable product certification and labelling scheme. This is being delivered by the Carbon Trust in partnership with Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), with funding from the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
The proposed scheme will involve the footprinting, certification and labelling of products, initially using pilot studies in four target subsectors with significant environmental impacts: aluminium, cement, chemicals, and pulp and paper. Following the pilot phase the intention is to roll the scheme out across all sectors.
Certification and labelling can improve access for Brazilian businesses to international export markets, where information on the environmental performance of products is either required or an advantage. Domestically it will help businesses meet sustainable public procurement requirements, with legally-binding federal regulations and local government guidance promoting the purchase of green goods and services.
The project builds upon the Carbon Trust’s world-leading expertise and experience in creating sustainable production certification and labelling schemes, with experience in the UK and around the world. This includes the development of the first ever product carbon footprint label, as well as current work taking place on developing new schemes in Malaysia, Mexico and Hong Kong.
Dr Paul Taylor from the Carbon Trust, at a workshop in Sao Paulo
