The power of climate labels the search for an optimal label design

Abstract

The importance of finding new, innovative ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions has received increased attention. Climate labels are a means for this, where the life cycle emissions of a product are often given in combination with an icon. This article surveys the phenomenon of climate labels while varying their design to prompt more sustainable food consumption. Recipe boxes were selected as an example emphasizing the increasing popularity of shopping for groceries online. An online choice experiment was conducted where Danish respondents selected recipe boxes in two different scenarios: (a) the ‘all-or-nothing’ (binary) approach with a binary label on low-emitting choices only and (b) the three-tier rank-order approach, where all meals are assigned a graphical rating. By assigning recipe boxes scores ranking from 0 to 2 based on the level of climate pollution, a measurement of the total score from a choice of recipe boxes made it possible to compare the effect of the two different approaches for climate labelling. Statistical tests indicated a significant difference between the two types of climate labels and their persuasive effect on consumer choice. They revealed that the three-tier rank-order approach results in more sustainable consumption than the binary approach. In demographics, younger individuals and females proved to be the most conscious in their choices.