Attributes of carbon labelling to drive consumer purchase intentions

Although some forms of environmental labelling have been available for more than several decades, carbon labelling is a more recent development. Carbon labelling is 'the practice of publicly communicating, via a label associated with a product or service, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the life cycle of that product or service' ([1]; p. 348). The world's first carbon label, i.e. the carbon reduction label, was published by Carbon Trust in the UK in 2006 [2]. Since then, a number of carbon-labelling schemes have been initiated worldwide. The objective of all these schemes is the same "” to be able to provide reliable and meaningful information to consumers regarding the level of greenhouse gases emitted in the production of a product. Ultimately, it is hoped that such labels would help motivate consumers to choose products which have a smaller carbon footprint.