LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

PARALLEL SESSION 4A: CARBON FOOTPRINT 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Parallel session 4a: Carbon Footprint
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Finnish consumer understanding of carbon footprinting and food
product labelling
Hanna Hartikainen * , Juha-Matti Katajajuuri, Hannele Pulkkinen, Taneli Roininen
1 MTT Agrifood Research Finland, 00790 Helsinki
Corresponding author. E-mail: hanna.hartikainen@mtt.fi
ABSTRACT
Production and consumption of food products have significant impacts on climate change. Carbon labelling of food products represents
a major means of communicating the impacts of food products on climate. However, there is little knowledge on how consumers
perceive carbon labelling. The aim of the Climate Communication 2 (2011-2013) project was to study how Finnish consumers
perceive the communication of carbon footprints for food products. The study comprised 5 semi-structured focus groups and an
online-survey. The focus groups showed that the term ‘carbon footprint’ was familiar to many, but there was substantial misunderstanding
of its meaning. There were positive attitudes towards carbon labels, but the participants indicated that the information became
meaningful only when other key purchasing criteria (such as price and taste) were satisfied. Furthermore, there was divergence
on perceived needs for carbon label content.
Keywords: carbon footprint, carbon labelling, food, consumer behaviour, survey
1. Introduction
In Finland around 25% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG-emissions) from private consumption originate
from the production and consumption of food, including household food preparation, food preservation,
journeys to shops and meal services (Regina et al., 2011; Seppälä et al., 2009). Communication of climate
impacts for food products is highlighted by there being no great reductions made solely by adapting low
carbon technology (Weidema et al., 2008). Therefore, the greatest potential for reducing GHG-emissions
from food products lies in consumer behaviour.
One way to inform consumers about food product GHG-emissions is carbon labelling of food products,
which has expanded steadily in Finland during recent years. The first carbon label appeared in 2008, and to
date six Finnish food companies include carbon labels on their product packages. Overall more than 40 Finnish
food products are carbon labelled and more will be labelled in the future. Some Finnish food companies
are also communicating product carbon footprints only on their websites. Additionally, some state that they
compensate for their product carbon footprints. Consumer perceptions of product carbon footprint and attitudes
toward climate-friendly products remain challenging nonetheless. It is unclear whether Finnish consumers
seek information on climate-friendly food products or not. From recent international studies it is indicated
that there is a growing need among consumers for accurate information about the impacts of food
and its production on climate (i.e. European commission 2009, The Climate Group 2006). However, there is
also a need for a deeper and more up-to-date study.
In the Finnish Climate Communication 2 project (2011-2013) Finnish consumer understanding about carbon
footprinting and information needs are studied. Appreciating the complexity and broad scope of the
topic, the aim of the study is to establish the nature of:
Consumer perception of product carbon footprints and labels
Consumer understanding of the message transmitted by carbon labels
Consumer perception of the information content in the carbon label
2. Methods
There were five focus groups in the group discussions and 33 participants in total. The key criterion for
consumer recruitment was that the consumer stated that environmental friendliness was at least quite important
when grocery shopping (by giving a score of at least 3 on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being very important), and
thus being more concerned than the average consumer in that respect. The participants were grouped according
to their ages. There was a group of young adults (ages 24-28), two middle-aged groups (ages 31-44) and
an elderly group (ages 53-65). Additionally, the members of the fifth group (ages 28-47) considered themselves
even more environmentally conscious in comparison with other focus groups when grocery shopping.
Each group discussion lasted around two hours: first the participants discussed their own criteria for grocery
shopping, then they discussed how environmentally conscious they were in general and how their consciousness
related to food consumption. Lastly the groups discussed carbon footprinting and carbon labelling
of food products. The participants were also shown various carbon labels from which they chose their favourites
(Figures 1a-f). Each of the labels emphasised one of the following information points:
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