The impact of climate information on milk demand: Evidence from a field experiment

Abstract

It has been suggested that carbon labelling of food, on voluntary or non-voluntary basis, could reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the influence of such labels on consumer purchases. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether voluntary carbon labelling affects the demand for milk. A randomized field experiment was conducted in 17 retail stores in Sweden, where a sign provided consumers with qualitative information about the carbon impact of climate-certified milk. The results suggest that the sign increased the demand for the climate-certified milk by approximately 6-8%, and the result is robust to alternative model specifications. The effect is entirely driven by large stores, such as supermarkets. We find no statistically significant impact on total milk sales, and the dataset is too small to verify the consequences for other milk brands. The effect on the demand for the labelled milk is short-lived. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

Carbon labelling; Milk; Randomized controlled trial; Consumer demand; Lagged effects

Published in

Food Policy
2016, volume: 58, pages: 14-23
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

SLU Authors

• Elofsson, Katarina

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Matsdotter, Elina

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Global goals (SDG)

SDG2 Zero hunger
SDG12 Responsible consumption and production

UKÄ Subject classification

Economics

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.11.002

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/76420