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Time to try carbon labelling

A Correction to this article was published on 06 May 2011

A global private carbon-labelling scheme for consumer products could fill the climate-policy gap by influencing the behaviour of consumers and corporate supply chains.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Lisa Kenney and Amanda Carrico for their assistance.

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Correspondence to Michael P. Vandenbergh.

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Vandenbergh, M., Dietz, T. & Stern, P. Time to try carbon labelling. Nature Clim Change 1, 4–6 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1071

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