Several leading companies in the uk are now eager to please environmentally conscious consumers. Nine more companies have signed up for a trial to use a draft carbon footprint standard, currently being developed by Carbon Trust, an independent state-funded body, in partnership with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the British Standard.

Under the scheme, the companies will use the standard to calculate the embodied carbon emissions of their selected products and then use the information to reduce emissions. The initiative follows a rise in demand from consumers for more information on the climate-change impact of the products they use (see