The Announcement today that O2 were adding an eco rating to each of their handsets had me thinking back to an idea I had 5 years ago. Firstly though, about the eco rating that O2 have introduced to each of their handsets. In O2's words they use a tool to:"assess our suppliers and their products against a range of sustainability criteria. Energy consumption; substances used; packaging and the way the company operates in its local community are all taken into account."
This results in an eco score out of 5 for each handset. This only works for supplies that participate within the scheme and as an example the Samsung Galaxy S gets an impressive eco rating of 3.6 out of 5..... well is this impressive or not? I have no idea and here in lies the problem. I really like the concept of the eco rating against a product that I am going to buy as it means that I can make an informed decision about what I am going to buy and how it potentially impacts the world around me. However a number gives me no visibility as to how this was awarded and as a result I cannot really make an educated judgement. Also it's just a number. What does 3.6 out of 5 actually mean. Does this actually mean that The Samsung Galaxy S is only 72% kosher with 28% nastiness? There is no visibility as to how the score is calculated therefore it is relatively meaningless. If I buy it are 28% of the buttons on the key pad dangerous to use? Will they dial a 5 when I hit the 6?
That being said, interesting move by O2 to add an eco rating but please:
- provide visibility on how the score is actually assessed and what criteria each device has achieved
- provide a mechanism such that I can compare devices eco ratings easily without having to navigate to each device individually. This might be available but I sure as heck could not find it.
Anyway enough of 02. As I said, about 5 years ago I had a similar idea, however it was on a far greater scale. I wanted every single product to have a carbon rating, i.e. a value that allowed a consumer to see how much carbon was produced to get a product to a place of purchase. OK so my rating was purely carbon based and didn't have a measure of Corporate Social Responsibility, but maybe that could have been added later ;-).
So that is all well and good. Consumers would be able to see the carbon footprint of each of their products. I seriously wanted this on everything. So instead of seeing the price per unit, or the price per 100 grams of a product, instead you would see the carbon produced figure for the same measure. This would be for TV's, your packet of crisps, your fruit and veg, your pot of honey etc.... Yes really everything! So that is all well and good, a consumer would be able to see exactly how their consumption would have an impact on the environment. For me though that was not enough.
What I really wanted to see was at the cash register, or online checkout, that instead of paying VAT, or sales tax, or possibly on top of that tax, the consumer would also pay a carbon tax. This would be the only way, in my view, to get consumers to change their mind and alter their consumption for the benefit of the planet. I am sure pretty soon off season fruit and vegetables imported from all places around the globe would be off most peoples menus. The carbon tax, increased because your bean has been flown in from Kenya, would make buying carbon wasteful products prohibitive. People would learn to use products that were in season or created within reach of where they lived.
Yeah I know this is short sighted, but I still think there could be a measure of this kind of carbon consumption introduced to encourage people to change. As I say, although people know about the issues or have heard about them, the only way to make a wholesale change on society is to hit them where it hurts. The hip pocket. Lets face it this is how most people vote nowadays. What's in it for me. What political party is going to leave me with the most money in my pocket? Well why not try this with consumption? Yep I will eat seasonal vegetables as they are they provide the lowest carbon footprint and are therefore the cheapest to buy. Simple.
Of course its not simple. Tracking the carbon produced during the production of a product is almost impossible without certain amounts of guess work and therein lies the problem. There would be a lot of high powered carbon analysists who would be paid massive amounts to come up with small numbers with respect to the Carbon produced in the production of pesticides used to grown beans in Kenya. There are just too many ingredients in the creation of even the simplest things, that it becomes almost impossible to measure. Still there must be ways to measure a reasonably accurate measure. Is there such thing though as a reasonably accurate tax. Unfortunately no.
Sure there are hurdles in the plan but that did not stop me! It was not just fruit, veg, crisps and everything in your shopping basket that I wanted this carbon tax slapped on. Cars for instance. You would pay carbon tax for the production of the car and then you would pay a once off tax for the carbon that the car produced during it's lifetime. This would put a dent in new car sales, but how long would it be until we saw a hydrogen fuel infrastructure rolled out across a country that hit gas guzzlers with a monstrous carbon tax. Pretty soon I imagine.
Yeah these changes would be pretty drastic, but I bet if you hit the hip pocket then society would change pretty quickly. Oh and all the tax raised. Well obviously this would have to go into renewable energy and finding replacements for our carbon rich energy consumption!
Sure it's simplistic, but you never know it might just work. I have all the Carbon measuring tools and integrated systems for managing this tax sorted out in my head. So if you want to make a go of it let me know and I'll formalise the idea and business plan ;-)
In the meantime:
- well done O2, but please be a little more serious about it so we can see its not just marketing bullshit.
- and think the next time you buy something. Our choices can have an impact on the very planet we need to survive.
- If you are really cluely invent the warp drive so we can ask friendly neighbouring planets if we can squat there for a while when our planet can no longer support us!
Have fun
Cheers
m
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