Will Sarni explains why he's had a change of heart on the emerging carbon-labeling trend.

Oct. 10, 2008 - EATN Park Hospitality Group, operator of 200 restaurants and catering businesses in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region, has created an in-house eco-logo to educate employees on its green programs, RedOrbit reports.

Sept. 24, 2008 - With several new recycled-content office papers now on offer, Xerox has created an eco-label to help customers quickly locate the company's environmentally preferable printing options.

U.K. supermarket giant Tesco is expanding its carbon labeling program to stores in Ireland, displaying new labels on nine of the company's own-brand products in that market.

Sept.10, 2008 - The college professor who coined the term "food miles" has urged companies to stop confusing consumers with own-brand carbon labels, calling instead for an "omni-label" designed to give customers a complete overview of a product's environmental and social impact (via BusinessGreen).

Aug. 11, 2008 - As lawmakers in the U.S., Britain, and Canada clamp down on green advertising claims, New Zealand's ministries of commerce and environment have jointly launched a new website to help consumers judge the credibility of companies' eco-labels and other environmental marketing practices.

July 8, 2008 - Starting January 1, 2009, California will expand its Smog Index Label for new cars to include data on greenhouse gas emissions.

June 25, 2008 - The Carbon Trust - the British government-backed organization that brought carbon labels to the Tesco supermarket chain - has launched a certification scheme to help companies prove they are making real progress in carbon management.

June 16, 2008 - French supermarket chain Casino has launched color-coded carbon labels for some of its own-brand products, Food Production Daily reports. U.K. retailer Tesco kicked off a similar scheme in April.

May 22, 2008 - Hewlett-Packard has created a new eco-label aimed at helping its customers more easily spot a product's green features.

May 2, 2008 - The LCD TV Association, a not-for-profit marketing trade group, has launched a green logo program aimed at helping manufacturers develop and promote more energy-efficient products.

April 29, 2008 - Supermarket chain Tesco today began testing carbon labels on 20 store items from potato chips to lightbulbs in a bid to educate consumers on products' climate impact from "seed to store," Reuters reports.

Organic, Fairtrade, FSC Certified - "eco-promises" are made about a range of issues in advertising, in-store promotions, and on products themselves. But look before you leap on this bandwagon, a new report suggests - or you may be doing your green rep more harm than good. Here are five pitfalls companies face in communicating their efforts via eco-label - and how best to avoid them. By Emily Rabin Cowan

April 14, 2008 - The new Carbon Action Plan (CAP), unveiled at an industry conference last week, offers a standardized protocol for the measurement and independent verification of greenhouse gas emissions across the entire supply chain. The program will eventually create a "nutrition-style" product label for green performance in the areas of energy use, packaging material, water use, emissions reduction, and carbon offsets.

April 4, 2008 - Apple is trying to block NYC & Co., a travel and tourism organization, from trademarking an apple-shaped logo aimed at promoting an environmentally conscious lifestyle among New Yorkers, Advertising Age reports. The computermaker has filed a complaint with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to prevent the group from using its GreeNYC logo, which features a stylized apple, stalk, and leaf.