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

GROUP 3, SESSION A: LABELLING, CONSUMERS, DIET 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
78. Effect of carbon footprint label on food purchase behaviour
Aki-Heikki Finér 1,* , Marika Kelokari 1 , Jussi Nikula 2 , Mira Povelainen 1
1 Raisio Group, 2 WWF Finland, Corresponding author. E-mail: aki.finer@raisio.com
Consumer interest on products’ environmental profile is constantly increasing. Several eco-labels are published
worldwide to inform consumers about products’ environmental performance. Raisio Group, an international
plant-based foods and feeds company, was one of the first companies to introduce a carbon footprint
label for food products in 2008. Since, Raisio’s carbon footprint label has been revised in compliance with
customer feedback. Nowadays, Raisio has labelled more than 30 of its own products and the label is also in
use in more than 15 other companies’ food products including poultry and honey products.
A consumer web survey was organised together with Raisio Group and WWF Finland in July 2011 in
Finland. The survey was organised to determine which aspects Finnish people value when making decisions
concerning food. Information about the survey was spread through social media, Raisio’s consumer newsletters
and WWF Finland’s newsletter. Most important questions were how Finnish consumers take food chains
different sustainability aspects into account in their purchase decisions, the market penetration of Raisio
Group’s carbon footprint label and the relation of carbon footprint and other factors when making purchase
decision.
The respondents were assumed to be environmentally conscious or aware of current discussion about food
environmental impacts and sustainability as a whole in Finland. The results of the survey show that approximately
40% of 4960 respondents have seen Raisio Group’s carbon footprint label on a food product package.
Almost 54% of the respondents stated that a carbon footprint label should be mandatory for food products.
More than 60% suppose that mandatory carbon footprint label would have effect on purchase decision. Other
key factors in decision making are food products purity and safety, healthiness and price.
Figure 1. Raisio Group’s carbon footprint label
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