Do carbon footprint labels promote climatarian diets? Evidence from a large-scale field experiment

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cam.depositDate2022-06-09
cam.issuedOnline2022-06-22
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cam.orpheus.successMon Jun 27 07:19:06 BST 2022 - Embargo updated
dc.contributor.authorLohmann, P
dc.contributor.authorGsottbauer, E
dc.contributor.authorDoherty, A
dc.contributor.authorKontoleon, A
dc.contributor.orcidLohmann, Paul [0000-0003-4724-9957]
dc.contributor.orcidKontoleon, Andreas [0000-0003-4769-898X]
dc.date.accessioned2022-06-09T23:30:42Z
dc.date.available2022-06-09T23:30:42Z
dc.date.issued2022-07
dc.date.updated2022-06-09T09:21:32Z
dc.description.abstractWe estimate the causal effect of carbon footprint labels on individual food choices and quantify potential carbon emission reductions, using data from a large-scale field experiment at five university cafeterias with over 80,000 individual meal choices. Results show that carbon footprint labels led to a decrease in the probability of selecting a high-carbon footprint meal by approximately 2.7 percentage points with consumers substituting to mid-carbon impact meals. We find no change in the market share of low-carbon meals, on average. The reduction in high-carbon footprint meals is driven by decreases in sales of meat meals while sales of mid-ranged vegan, vegetarian and fish meals all increased. We estimate that the introduction of carbon footprint labels was associated with a 4.3% reduction in average carbon emissions per meal. We contrast our findings with those from nudge-style interventions and discuss the cost-effectiveness of carbon footprint labels. Our results suggest that carbon footprint labels present a viable and low-cost policy tool to address information failure and harness climatarian preferences to encourage more sustainable food choices.
dc.description.sponsorshipWe acknowledge financial support by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge for one of the authors.
dc.identifier.doi10.17863/CAM.85374
dc.identifier.eissn1096-0449
dc.identifier.issn0095-0696
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337968
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Politics And International Studies
dc.publisher.urlhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102693
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectCarbon footprint labelling
dc.subjectEmissions mitigation
dc.subjectFood consumption
dc.subjectFood policy
dc.subjectMeal choices
dc.subjectNatural field experiment
dc.subjectSustainable diets
dc.titleDo carbon footprint labels promote climatarian diets? Evidence from a large-scale field experiment
dc.typeArticle
dcterms.dateAccepted2022-06-04
prism.publicationNameJournal of Environmental Economics and Management
pubs.funder-project-idESRC (1801783)
pubs.funder-project-idEconomic and Social Research Council (1801783)
pubs.licence-display-nameApollo Repository Deposit Licence Agreement
pubs.licence-identifierapollo-deposit-licence-2-1
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Review
rioxxterms.versionVoR
rioxxterms.versionofrecord10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102693
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