Sacramento, CA – A new bill introduced by Assemblymember Ira Ruskin (D- Redwood City) will provide Californians with the information necessary to voluntarily reduce global warming pollution through consumer purchasing power. “The Carbon Labeling Act of 2008” (AB 2538) calls for standardized labeling of the total greenhouse gases created in harvesting, manufacturing, distributing, and selling all consumer products sold in California.  Under the proposal, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will establish a methodology and formula for assessing and labeling a product’s carbon content, but participation is voluntary.

“When consumers have the information, they vote with their dollars,” said Assemblymember Ruskin. “When nutrition labels started letting consumers know about the trans fat in their food, they responded by buying healthier products.  Consumers don’t want trans fat, and they don’t want global warming.”

Calling it the “nutrition label for the environment,” Assemblyman Ruskin said the label would make assessing the carbon content of ice cream as easy as counting its calories. By providing consumers with the power to choose products with smaller carbon footprints, the law would harness market forces to make reducing global warming emissions important to the bottom line for all manufacturers.

AB 2538 is a critical next policy step in the state’s effort to meet the 25 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 mandated by the state’s historic Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). 

“You can’t reduce what you don’t measure,” said Matthew Newman of Carbon Label California, the bill’s principal sponsor.  “This legislation would create the standards for a well defined measure of carbon content in all products.”

The proposed legislation follows CARB’s vehicle label mandate, which requires that every new car sold in California must display smog and global warming emissions labels beginning in 2009. 

No other state or nation currently has a carbon labeling program, although the U.K.’s Carbon Trust has been developing labeling standards. “This legislation would make California a world leader in the fight against global warming,” commented Newman.

To read more about carbon labeling, visit www.carbonlabelca.org.  The Carbon Labeling Act is based on original research about carbon labeling sponsored by Next Ten, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization.