Volume 34, Number 1, 153-160, DOI: 10.1007/s10603-010-9140-7

Customer Response to Carbon Labelling of Groceries

Jerome K. Vanclay, John Shortiss, Scott Aulsebrook, Angus M. Gillespie, Ben C. Howell, Rhoda Johanni, Michael J. Maher, Kelly M. Mitchell, Mark D. Stewart and Jim Yates

From the issue entitled "Special Issue: Putting Sustainable Consumption into Practice"

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Abstract

Thirty-seven products were labelled to indicate embodied carbon emissions, and sales were recorded over a 3-month period. Green (below average), yellow (near average), and black (above average) footprints indicated carbon emissions embodied in groceries. The overall change in purchasing pattern was small, with black-labelled sales decreasing 6% and green-labelled sales increasing 4% after labelling. However, when green-labelled products were also the cheapest, the shift was more substantial, with a 20% switch from black- to green-label sales. These findings illustrate the potential for labelling to stimulate reductions in carbon emissions.

Keywords  Carbon label – Ecological footprint – Emissions reduction – Green consumers – Consumer environmental purchasing behaviour

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