Only the most sustainable of products will survive

It undoubtedly makes sense for it to only want to stock the products of those companies that it has worked closely with to reduce the footprint - especially when consumers are increasingly demanding more sustainable products.

In my view consumers want retailers to make the environmental choices for them. So although it is good that retailers and suppliers are starting to work together to reduce carbon footprints, the decision by some companies to put such information on their product labels is questionable as it means little to consumers.

They are unlikely to stand in stores weighing up the pros and cons of the carbon labels of two competing products. Surely it is much better if the retailer has made that choice for them and chosen to only stock the more sustainable product.

What is clear though is that it is still early days in the working out of carbon footprints at the individual product level. Maybe over time when all products have been through this process the labelling of them will be immaterial anyway because only the most sustainable products will find space in-store and the rest will have been consigned to the excessive-waste bin for good.