Assessing the influence of carbon footprint labels on consumer food choices within a retail setting is the subject of a new study by the Stockholm Environment Institute’s CANDIES project.
The study, Using labels to support climate-friendly lunch purchases – an in-store study, was undertaken at Urban Deli in Stockholm, and sought to determine how climate impact information provided at the point of purchase can encourage sustainable customer choices.
Embedded information
The CANDIES project seeks to assess how environmental information is currently embedded throughout the food supply chain, from farm to fork. In this instance, lunchboxes on sale at Urban Deli were branded with labels indicating the carbon footprint impact of a selection of products.
‘For Urban Deli it was important that the design aligned with their branding and that the labels were produced by their own designers,’ the researchers noted. ‘This influenced the size of the labels and meant that it was not possible to use traffic-light colours for the different label categories.’
As part of their research, which was published in Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, the SEI employed both qualitative and quantitative methods to determine that while carbon footprint labels enhance consumers’ ability and opportunity to make environmentally friendly food choices, they are not a key motivating factor.
Complementary interventions
The study suggests that in order to increase motivation, further, complementary interventions may be necessary.
‘To effectively shift consumer behaviour, there may be a need to implement other types of interventions alongside environmental impact labels,’ the researchers noted. ‘This could include measures which do not place further responsibility on consumer decision-making, such as enabling retailers to make environmental-friendly foods more readily available.’
At the same time, the study determined that carbon footprint labelling plays a crucial role in educating consumers about the environmental impact of their food choices and could pave the way for further behavioural change initiatives.
It also notes that collaboration with retailers on study design would be beneficial, and offer practical insights for future investigations into consumer behaviour and sustainability in retail contexts. Read more here and here.
