The Carbon Trust partners with Provenance to enable verified carbon reduction claims at the point of purchase

The Carbon Trust label is expanding its visibility online by partnering with sustainability claims platform Provenance. Through its partnership, the Carbon Trust’s ‘Carbon Emissions Reductions Achieved’ label will be added to Provenance’s platform, to support consumers with easy access to credible information regarding the carbon impact of the products they purchase.

Provenance enables brands and retailers to communicate product and brand level sustainability credentials to consumers at the point of purchase, in a transparent and credible way, by validating claims before publication and linking them to evidence from verifiers. Provenance has included the Carbon Trust label in its 'Framework' to inform consumers about the environmental impact of the products they choose online. The Carbon Trust label joins a set of 120 robust claims, which companies can select from to prove their sustainability performance on online product pages.

Phil Verey, Managing Director at Provenance said,

"The Carbon Trust has led the charge in carbon accounting globally since developing the first product carbon footprint label in 2007, and we’re thrilled their label has been integrated into the Provenance Framework. This partnership has the potential to significantly enhance transparency around carbon reduction initiatives, by effectively cutting through greenwash and allowing brands to showcase their efforts to reduce carbon emissions clearly with their customers.”

John Newton, Label and Assurance Commercial Director at the Carbon Trust added,

“Through our collaboration with Provenance we are enabling companies with verified carbon reductions at product level to communicate this in a credible and transparent way at the point of purchase. Consumers will be able to track the carbon reduction claim through the certificate awarded by the Carbon Trust. With this partnership, we hope to be able to inspire companies to take more action on climate, while better informing and educating consumers to have this expectation of companies and claims.”

Studies show that consumers care about the climate impact of the products they purchase and are more positive about brands that carry a carbon footprint label. According to a YouGov study the Carbon Trust commissioned in 2023, comprising 14,000 consumers in 11 countries, 62% of respondents felt more positive about a brand/company carrying a recognisable label, with 58% saying they trusted brands more with a recognisable label. In another study, ‘Voice of the Consumer Survey’ report published in May 2024 by PwC, which surveyed 20,000 consumers in 31 countries, 46% said they were already buying more sustainable products or products with a reduced climate impact.

In addition to consumer demand, a new wave of regulatory initiatives in the EU is pushing for green claims to be substantiated and third-party verified to support credible and effective sustainability communication. The push from consumers and upcoming regulation has led to more companies looking to adopt third-party verifications and the development of new communication programmes and tools, to enable consumers to find credible sustainability credentials at the point of purchase.

Provenance’s platform validates sustainability claims for CPG businesses primarily in the beauty sector, working with hundreds of brands such as Weleda, Medik8 and Faith in Nature, and retailers including Cult Beauty and The Detox Market. More recently, the platform is being adopted by brands and retailers across the food and drink, and health and wellness sectors.