Logitech has announced it intends to introduce carbon impact labelling across its entire product range, starting with its gaming products later this year.

The Swiss technology conglomerate, which pledged last year to limit its carbon footprint in line with the Paris Agreement's 1.5C scenario, claims the move makes it the first consumer electronics company to introduce carbon labelling across its portfolio.

President and chief executive Bracken Darrell yesterday urged other companies to follow Logitech's lead and provide consumers with more information about the environmental impact of their products. "By communicating the carbon impact of our products, we are empowering and collaborating with our consumers to better the world," he said. "Carbon is the new calorie - we need to know what we're consuming. We also invite other companies to join Logitech in driving positive change by providing full transparency on their products. It will take an industry-wide effort to truly make a difference."

Logitech said it had spent "years" developing an in-house Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) tool that allows the firm to analyse the carbon, toxicity, and circularity impact of products across their life-cycle, through raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, consumer use, and end-of-life.

The firm's carbon calculations will be verified and validated by a number of third parties, including Natural Capital Partners and iPoint Group. 

"Increasingly we are seeing consumers looking for clear, transparent and credible statements of climate action by businesses," said Rebecca Fay, chief marketing officer at Natural Capital Partners. "We applaud Logitech's carbon transparency program which is an ideal complement to the CarbonNeutral certification of its products and truly demonstrates that this is a company committed to a low carbon transformation."

Martina Prox, sustainability strategy from the iPoint Group, said the firm was looking forward to working with Logitech on the project. "Creating transparency for the carbon footprints of a company's products is an important step towards reducing greenhouse gases and thus in the fight against climate change," she said.

Manufacturers and retailers are boosting efforts to give consumers more information about the environmental impact of their products, after Carbon Trust research from 2019 found that two-thirds of consumers in the UK support the idea of a recognisable carbon label.

Earlier this year, meat substitute company Quorn announced its plan to introduce 'farm to shop' carbon footprint data on its top selling products, and just this week consumer goods behemoth Unilever unveiled a pledge to communicate the carbon footprint of all its products.