The impact of climate labelling on consumer choices of food products: A systematic literature review
(A2025-124090)

AUTHORS

John Thøgersen, Aarhus University; Lucía Romero-Verdú, Aarhus University; Anne Peschel, Aarhus University

ABSTRACT

Carbon, carbon footprint, or climate labelling is increasingly considered and tested in many countries and Denmark plans to introduce the world’s first state-controlled climate label on food products in 2025. This paper provides a timely review of recent empirical research on consumer responses to climate labelling, complementing a review published in 2021. We identified 33 journal articles on the topic from 2021 onwards. In 12 articles, climate labelling was compared to other labelling. Generally, they find that a “climate friendly” label is valued by most consumers. Some find that climate labelling influences consumers more, some less than other sustainability labels, varying across products, countries, and consumers. When sustainability labels are combined, each of them usually has a positive effect on choices, but their marginal effect is reduced. Unclear or unfamiliar labelling and insufficient consumer knowledge leads to label confusion and reduced labelling effects.