People Get Ready There’s a Train Coming

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under GreenIT, Life-Cycle, carbon, labeling, supply chain, sustainable | No Comments

IT product manufacturers and distributors need to look down the track and see what’s headed toward them … Carbon Labeling on products. Some data points … EnvironmentalLeader.com recently posted Supply Chain Leaders Should Prepare For Carbon Labeling from MIT. A Carbon Trust survey reports “43 per cent of all UK senior decision makers have a positive view of carbon labeling”. A storage vendor told me a major Bank RFP required a full life-cycle carbon assessment for products proposed.

More notable than these, Wal-Mart has launched its Sustainability 360 program that extends “beyond Wal-Mart’s direct environmental footprint to engage associates, suppliers, communities and customers.” CEO Lee Scott recently wrote that WalMart is committed to “driving sustainable practices into our supply chain”. Whether you are selling WalMart IT gear or they are selling your electronic products on their shelves, disclosure of product carbon content is bound to happen … and probably much sooner than you might expect.