Common standard for carbon neutrality under development

UK standards body BSI is developing a standard designed to cut through accusations of "greenwash", which have surrounded the term "carbon neutral".

BSI has said it is developing the PAS 2060 standard to help develop a consistent and comparable measure for companies that want to advertise their company as being carbon neutral.

In co-operation with the department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the standard should help restore consumers' faith in carbon claims, which have suffered from a lack of any real consistency, the organisations claim.

BSI director of standards Mike Low said that should provide a common definition and recognised method for companies that want to achieve carbon neutrality.

"The standard encourages a behaviour change to help drive society towards a low carbon economy. We are delighted to be working with some household names who can lead the way on implementing this standard once it is complete," he said.

"We also encourage smaller organisations and individuals to view the draft standard and give us their feedback.”

Organisations on board to help with the development of the standard include Marks & Spencer, Eurostar and the Co-operative. Marks & Spencer has committed to make its stores, offices and warehouses carbon neutral by 2012 as part of its "Plan A eco-plan".

Rowland Hill, sustainability manager at Marks & Spencer, said:

"To date, we have been working to develop robust measurements and to achieve the necessary improvements in efficiency expected by our stakeholders. We welcome PAS 2060 as a robust and transparent means of demonstrating carbon neutrality."

PA 2060 will build on existing environmental standards such as the ISO 1400 series and PAS 2050. According to BSI, once the standard has been finalised it will be applicable to businesses, regional and local government, communities, academic institutions, clubs and social groups, families and individuals.

The standard will also include a commitment for companies to have actually cut greenhouse gas emissions to qualify. The BSI said in a statement:

"PAS 2060 is also expected to encourage increased action on climate change and improvements in carbon reduction management,"

In late September, the government published new guidance on how organisations should measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions, which also included an official definition of "carbon neutral".

According to the government guidelines, “carbon neutral means that – through a transparent process of calculating emissions, reducing those emissions and offsetting residual emissions – net carbon emissions equal zero.”

Earlier this month, Marks & Spencer (M&S) announced that it is looking to reduce waste through the introduction of solid ink printers for the production of in-store shelf edge labels. More than 1,000 colour printers have been installed across all 602 M &S stores nationwide.

A draft version of PAS 2060 should be available next month and BSI is asking all interested parties to comment once the draft is available.
www.bsigroup.com/PAS2060.