Tesco will become the first supermarket chain to assign a “carbon rating” to everything it sells in the latest attempt by a retailer to cash in on consumers’ concerns about the environment.

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Fiona Harvey looks at the implications of Tesco’s move for the retail industry

The fifth-largest retail chain said on Thursday it would work with Oxford University’s environmental change institute to create an index to measure the carbon required to produce, transport and consume every product it sells.