I personally think that this is going to have a massive impact on the way that we make products and promote them. It is likely to have a very interesting affect on the way that we do our marketing – and I suspect that it will not be long before customers will demand access to this sort of information. Embedding traceability maps in our websites will no doubt encourage a more transparent view of how things are done. To me that can only be a good thing as that encourages accountability for the impact that we have on the environment. If this is coupled with a scheme to neutralise the carbon footprint of our activities then that could give our customers more confidence in us.
It is a fantastic way to find out about the things that we buy and how environmentally friendly they are too. Might make us change our minds about a few things ….
You can create Sourcemaps for a variety of things -(as copied from the Sourcemap website….)
* Lifecycle Maps which are complete Sourcemaps. In order to create lifecycle maps you’ll need to know what goes into a product, how much it weighs, how it travels and you’ll end up generating a carbon equivalency for your completed map.
* Traceability Maps which are simpler Sourcemaps focused on where things come from. You only need to have an intuition about what goes into a product and where it comes from.
* Travel Maps which are maps where people (passengers) are the product. You’ll add passengers to the map and tell us how they move and we’ll generate a carbon equivalency for the completed map.
* Food Maps are Sourcemaps focused on food. In order to create these maps you’ll pick different kinds of foods (or food parts), tell us how much they way, how they travel and you’ll end up generating a carbon equivalency for your map.
If your company has a green policy then this is a brilliant way of showing your customers just how green you are.
I think that this has huge potential but what do you think?
Do you think having access to this sort of data can make a difference and if so what impact do you think it can have?