Oat milk brand Oatly has been printing the carbon impact of its products on packaging. It’s a good start, but it probably won’t be enough to change behaviour, says Lara Williams for Bloomberg Opinion.
The idea of climate labelling is that to make the carbon footprint of food and drink clearly available, in the same way as nutritional information. LONDON: I’m in the market for a new oven. Like the flat my partner and I are purchasing, which the United Kingdom government mandates have an energy performance certificate, appliances come with an efficiency rating and data about average electricity use.
Oatly Group, which sells milk made from oats and other non-dairy products, has launched a campaign aimed at drawing attention to one low-cost way of encouraging that dietary change: Climate labelling. The idea is that all food and drink companies should make the extent of their carbon footprint clearly available, in the same way that ovens get their efficiency ratings and food packaging has nutritional information.
Looking at the carbon label on the back of the Oatly carton in my fridge, it strikes me that the number alone - 0.49kg of CO2-equivalent per 1kg of whole oat drink - leaves me only with more questions: How does that compare to dairy milk or other plant-based alternatives, for example? Energy performance certificate ratings come in a colour-coded range, for example and sugar and fat content is sometimes displayed using a traffic light system. That gives us an instant reading on how well the product performs.
I’m concerned of a repeat with carbon labels. In the face of information overload and potentially conflicting priorities, from brand loyalty and taste to nutritional values and price, there’s only so much optimising the average shopper can do, no matter how good their intentions are.
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