The Bio Chemical and Bio Energy Division announced in the press conference in Beijing on April 13, 2012 that they made carbon interrogation on citric acid and starch products following PAS 2050:2011 carbon footprint standards and passed inspection of the international authorization institution of the third party. COFCO Corporation made a big step in sustainable development and carbon footprint practice. It also planned to do the same on more products in the future.
The carbon interrogation is a way of studying the greenhouse gas emission of each phase of the life cycle of a product. By doing this, a manufacturer is enabled to know its carbon emission so that it can make measures to reduce the emission. Currently globally there are a number of manufacturers which have made carbon footprint interrogation on hundreds of products.
Some developed countries use carbon emission as trade barrier. In the future, carbon labeling could be integral to the product manual and it would be difficult for those products without carbon labeling to be accepted by the market. EU has started to impose extra duty on the products failing to comply with low-carbon standards. So carbon footprint interrogation is necessary for a manufacturer to adapt to such future market changes.
Besides, as a state owned enterprise, COFCO Corporation also fulfilled its responsibilities in climate change by doing this. Its integrated business strategy facilitated energy saving and emission reduction. Packaging materials and basic raw materials were designed to be recyclable as much as possible. Energy was more consumed for high added value, good profitability and high tech. It also adopted a series of advanced international quality control, work safety and environmental protection standards and measures.
