June 20/Tokyo/The Daily Yomiuri-- Sapporo Breweries Ltd. announced it would introduce a label on one of its beer products next year stating how much carbon dioxide is emitted per can during the entire production and disposal process.

The label will be printed on 350-mL cans of Black Label draft beer.

According to the company, it will be the world's first brewer to print the amount of CO2 emission on its products.

The practice of calculating the amount of CO2 emitted through each stage of the production and disposal process -- from production of ingredients to recycling of a package -- is known as carbon footprinting. It is done to help objectively illustrate how much CO2 is emitted to encourage firms to try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry is working at hammering out unified rules on how to calculate CO2 emissions and label it. The rules are expected to be in place by February or March next year.

Sapporo plans to begin labeling the amount of CO2 emission on its products immediately after the introduction of the unified rules.

Observers said if such efforts take off it would give consumers alternative criterion for choosing products in addition to taste and price, such as taking into account climate change.

From the June 23, 2008, Prepared Foods e-Flash