The Carbon Action Plan (CAP) has been devised through cooperation between non-profit organisation NSF International and consultancy group Zenith in a bid to grant consumers a range of independently verified sustainability ratings on drinks. With beverage manufacturers under increasing consumer and regulatory pressure to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations, the CAP could offer manufacturers a means to promote their efforts for sustainable production. Industry focus While initially being implemented for bottled water manufacturers, the scheme is expected to eventually extended to other soft drinks, before a possible roll out across the food industry. Besides carbon footprints, the scheme will aim to include a variety of additional information on their energy and packaging requirements of a specific beverage. These include
- The amount of renewable energy and offset carbon emissions used in making the product
- The number of litres of water used to make a single litre of the beverage
- The percentage of recycled material used for a product's packaging
Work in progress Zentih Chairman Richard Hall claims that the labelling, which he says is the first of its kind, is designed to resemble nutrition labelling so as to be more easily understood by a consumer. Nonetheless, he added that further input was welcome in finding the best solutions to implement the labelling. "This is still work in progress and we would welcome ideas for further improvement, but we believe we have already gone further than any other scheme available so far," he stated. As part of the scheme, Trucost, a global environmental research group, will be working with both Zenith and NSF on finalising the aims of the labelling. NSF vice-president Keoen Bontinck said that CAP was effectively an extension of work that was being carried out by a number of drinks makers, and that the group would help to ensure that all measurements were "NSF's prime role is to check methodologies of measurement and independently verify company returns and claims," he stated. Pilot trial A pilot trial for CAP has already been undertaken by UK-based bottled water group Highland Spring, which claims that it is already benefiting from adopting the scheme. The group's technical manager said that alongside measuring each product environmental impact, Highland Spring was better position to identify key areas within its own supply chain to improve. Further pilot schemes are currently being set up in other continents, Zenith said. In addition to starting up the labelling scheme, the not-for-profit organisation, the Carbon Action Plan Partnership, would also be set up to monitor its work. Ian Hall, the man chosen to front the partnership, said that there was a strong belief that CAP was a step in the right direction for environmentally friendly beverage groups. "On such a vital issue, there should be no half measures," he stated. "It is a demanding and ambitious plan, but we now have a proven scheme that delivers actionable results.