Carbon label is derived from carbon footprint, also known as carbon logo. To mitigate climate change, reduce greenhouse‑gas emissions and promote low‑emission technologies, it quantitatively indicates the greenhouse‑gas emissions generated by commodities throughout their whole life cycle (including raw‑material extraction, manufacturing, packaging, storage & transportation, distribution, utilization, disposal and recycling) on product labels, so as to inform consumers of product‑related carbon information in the form of labels.
Carbon label certification refers to third‑party evaluation carried out for eligible products or services by adopting certification approaches in accordance with product carbon‑label evaluation standards. It is a voluntary evaluation certification oriented toward high‑quality product and service brands. Evaluated products/services will obtain product carbon‑label evaluation certificates jointly issued by China Electronic Energy‑Saving Technology Association, China Carbon Label Industry Innovation Alliance and certification bodies.
Development Background of Carbon Label
China officially promoted the construction of carbon‑label system in 2018. Led by China Low‑Carbon Committee and united with forces from government, industry, universities and research institutes, pilot work was firstly launched in the electrical and electronic industry to formulate a series of evaluation standards for carbon labels of electrical and electronic products and build a carbon‑label evaluation service system.
In August 2019, China’s association standard Carbon Label Mark (T/DZJN 004‑2019) was officially released, which specifies carbon‑label patterns that can display carbon‑emission values and evaluation grades. There are three star grades in total: one‑star for carbon‑disclosure products, two‑star for carbon‑reduction products and three‑star for low‑carbon products.
In August 2021, Implementation Rules for Voluntary Evaluation of Industry‑wide Unified Product Carbon Label (Interim) was issued. While providing guiding principles for carbon‑label evaluation across all industries, continuous efforts have been made to formulate and revise detailed implementing rules for various industries.
In January 2022, General Rules for Enterprise Carbon Label Evaluation (T/DZJN 75‑2022) was officially released. It is China’s first association standard for carbon‑label evaluation dominated by enterprises, compiled under the lead of the Low‑Carbon Economy Special Committee of China Electronic Energy‑Saving Technology Association and issued by China Electronic Energy‑Saving Technology Association.
