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Consumers' attitudes on carbon footprint labelling: Results of the SUSDIET project

Author

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  • Feucht, Yvonne
  • Zander, Katrin
Abstract
The purchase of products labelled with Carbon footprints is one option for consumers to act climate-friendly and consumers frequently state that they are interested in this kind of labels. But even though various carbon footprint labelling schemes exist throughout Europe, their market relevance is low. In this context, the present research investigates preferences for climate-friendly food and identifies barriers for climate friendly food choices in the European market. Using a mixed methods approach combining an online survey (choice experiments and a questionnaire) with qualitative face-to-face interviews, the preferences and willingness to pay for different carbon labels and a climate-friendly claim were explored in six European countries. While the online survey mainly aimed at eliciting consumer preferences for different ways of communicating climate-friendliness, the face-to-face interviews which were based on the results of the online survey, deepened and broadened the quantitative results. Thereby, consumers' perceptions of climate-friendly food and their information needs with respect to climate-friendly food are elicited. Our results show that the presence of a carbon label on a product increases the purchase probability and that consumers are willing to pay a (small) price premium for a carbon label in all countries under investigation (France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Germany, UK). However, the contribution of a carbon label to a more climate-friendly consumption will be limited. Main reasons are the lack of knowledge of climate friendly actions, reluctance to change consumption habits (e.g. meat and dairy consumption), time preference and uncertainty regarding the relevance of climate change. Consumers appear to be frequently overstrained with respect to climate-friendly buying decisions. Policy makers and retailers are challenged to set appropriate structures to support climate-friendly consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Feucht, Yvonne & Zander, Katrin, 2017. "Consumers' attitudes on carbon footprint labelling: Results of the SUSDIET project," Thünen Working Papers 78, Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:jhtiwp:78
    DOI: 10.3220/WP1507534833000
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Saunders, Caroline M. & Guenther, Meike & Tait, Peter R. & Kaye-Blake, William & Saunders, John & Miller, Sini & Abell, Walter L., 2011. "Consumer attitudes towards sustainability attributes on food labels in the UK and Japan," 85th Annual Conference, April 18-20, 2011, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 108953, Agricultural Economics Society.
    2. Saunders, Caroline M. & Guenther, Meike & Kaye-Blake, William & Miller, Sini & Tait, Peter R., 2010. "Consumer attitudes towards sustainability attributes on food labels," 2010 Conference, August 26-27, 2010, Nelson, New Zealand 96944, New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
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    Cited by:

    1. Djamel Rahmani & Zein Kallas & Maria Pappa & José Maria Gil, 2019. "Are Consumers’ Egg Preferences Influenced by Animal-Welfare Conditions and Environmental Impacts?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Dominic Lemken & Anke Zühlsdorf & Achim Spiller, 2021. "Improving Consumers’ Understanding and Use of Carbon Footprint Labels on Food: Proposal for a Climate Score Label," EuroChoices, The Agricultural Economics Society, vol. 20(2), pages 23-29, August.
    3. Anna Lewandowska & Katarzyna Joachimiak-Lechman & Przemysław Kurczewski, 2021. "A Dataset Quality Assessment—An Insight and Discussion on Selected Elements of Environmental Footprints Methodology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-23, August.

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    Keywords

    carbon footprint labelling; consumer research; climate change; climate-friendly food; mixed methods; choice experiments; CO2-Labels; Verbraucherforschung; Klimawandel; Klimafreundliche Lebensmittel; Mixed methods; Kaufexperimente;
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