According to Oatly research 62% of people are in favour of a policy to introduce carbon labelling on food and drink products and 55% of the people surveyed said companies should be obliged to publish that information.
Most consumers (59%) said they would reduce or stop entirely consumption of high carbon-footprint food and drink products, if provided with accurate emissions data.
At a time when the Government appears to be softening a number of key environmental measures, Oatly has published a ‘Grey Paper’: Climate Labelling: Why Not?.
Bryan Carroll, UK general manager, Oatly, said: “The food and drink we consume is responsible for a third of total UK emissions. Scientists, including the UK Government’s own Climate Change Committee, are clear that those emissions must urgently come down and that consumer behaviour change is a necessary part of that.
“Our view is that it’s unreasonable to expect this to happen when consumers are not being given the information they need to make informed choices. Given the urgency of our climate challenge, we believe it should be as easy for shoppers to find the climate impact of what they’re buying, as it is to find its price tag.”
Over the coming months Oatly will be continuing to call on the food and drink industry to come together and pressure policy-makers to implement mandatory climate labelling. Oatly is encouraging like-minded businesses to join the campaign and get in touch using climatelabelling@oatly.com.