Taiwan plans carbon footprint labelling

The Taiwanese government will begin promoting a carbon footprint labelling system to help local businesses gear themselves toward the global trend of making products "greener" and help mitigate global warming, according to the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), says Taiwan News.

With the international community placing a growing priority on disclosing the carbon footprint of consumer products, the Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration will introduce the labelling system in March to help consumers understand the environmental impact of the items they buy, says the IDB.

Global vendors are also putting pressure on local manufacturers to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions their goods generate.

US manufacturers want social media and environmental management functionality in their business software, according to a vendor study, reports InformationWeek.

A survey of 260 manufacturing executives found that most seemed ill-equipped to track the impact their operations had on the environment in the areas of carbon footprint, solid waste, air and water pollution, product life cycle and product end-of-life impact.

When it came to measuring environmental impact, mid-market manufacturers did worse than companies with more than $1 billion in revenue. Among companies with revenue between $250 million and $999 million, only 20% were tracking any sort of environmental impact in the manufacturers' business software, the survey found.

Some of Britain's leading firms are partnering with top academic institutions to develop projects that will overhaul household energy, water, transport and waste provision to drastically cut carbon emissions, writes The Guardian.

The partnership, led by Arup's global planning chief, Peter Head, involves 25 international companies including GE, HSBC, French energy firm EDF, Thames Water, Marks & Spencer and waste management firm Biffa are also behind the plan.

The companies involved hope that in five years their work could create tens of thousands of jobs and push Britain into the vanguard of environmental technology.