Consumer Responses to the Carbon Labelling of Food: A Real Life Experiment in a Canteen Practice

Abstract

The emerging debate on the climate impact of food is expected to result in the carbon labelling of food in the future. As yet, consumer responses to carbon labels are not well researched. A real life experiment was developed to study consumer responses to new carbon labels for food. A 'light' and a 'comprehensive' carbon labelling regime were stepwise introduced into the food practice of 'having lunch in a canteen'. The resulting shifts in the behaviour and attitudes of regular canteen visitors were measured with the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. Despite their overall positive attitude towards climate change policies, the canteen visitors show clear resistance to some of the changes suggested, especially when new courses of action run counter to the dynamics of the existing routinised practice. Using practice theory as our reference, we discuss the role of information provision next to other policy instruments for facilitating behavioural changes towards low carbon food consumption.

‘Nudging’ as an architect of more responsible consumer choice in food service provision: The role of restaurant menu design

“…This is in line with Riemer (1977) who posits that planned interventions in real-life business settings can only be effective if a willing-to-help organisation is recruited. Similar field 'interventions' have been applied in the food service provision sector previously (see, for example, Pulkkinen et al 2016;Spaargaren et al 2013; also see Sinclair et al 2014 for a review) which demonstrates the practical feasibility and investigative effectiveness of this research approach.…”

“…The primary focus has been on the application of 'nudging' as a facilitator of healthier food choices and more nutritionally sound diets (see, for instance, Dayan and Bar-Hillel 2011; Hwang and Lorenzen 2008; Kozup et al 2003). This is also because the discussion has largely been concerned with the public sector's catering (see, for example, Just and Wansink 2009;Spaargaren et al 2013;Sunstein and Thaler 2008) and little attention has been paid to the use of 'nudges' by private food service operators. Lastly, the geographical scope of investigation has been constrained by countries in North America, Australia and New Zealand, and continental Europe (see, for instance, Pulkkinen et al 2016;Spaargaren et al 2013;Truong and Hall 2013) while the UK has largely been excluded from analysis.…”

“…This is also because the discussion has largely been concerned with the public sector's catering (see, for example, Just and Wansink 2009;Spaargaren et al 2013;Sunstein and Thaler 2008) and little attention has been paid to the use of 'nudges' by private food service operators. Lastly, the geographical scope of investigation has been constrained by countries in North America, Australia and New Zealand, and continental Europe (see, for instance, Pulkkinen et al 2016;Spaargaren et al 2013;Truong and Hall 2013) while the UK has largely been excluded from analysis. This research rectifies this knowledge gap as it extends the scope of analysis from the diet-related 'nudging' only to the more holistic 'nudging' aiming to enable both environmentally-and societally-benign food choice.…”

“…This information may relate, for instance, to the health (for example, calorific values of ingredients; amounts of fat, sugar and salt content) and environmental (for instance, provenance of ingredients and fair trade standards) qualities of menu items, thus enabling customers to make prompt, yet educated, choices about the societal and environmental impacts of the food choice (Arvai 2012;Wansink et al 2001). While the value of restaurant menus as architects of consumer choice is recognised, there has been limited evidence of research conducted on this important topic to-date (Saulais 2015), particularly from the standpoint of minimising the impact of food service provision on climate change (Gössling 2011;Pulkkinen et al 2016;Spaargaren et al 2013). …”

Restaurant menu design and more responsible consumer food choice: An exploratory study of managerial perceptions

“…Given the growing public concern about the health and environmental implications of food consumption, the carbon intensity of foodstuffs may affect consumer choice when dining out (Pulkkinen et al 2016). A few experiments have recently been carried out by restaurateurs in continental Europe to investigate this effect with both, positive and negative, outcome reported (see Gössling 2011;Pulkkinen et al 2016;Spaargaren et al 2013). The need for more research into the role of food carbon footprint in consumer choice when dining out has been acknowledged (Gössling 2011).…”