Next week, the Danish government will present a new food label. The aim is to make the environmental impact of the individual food traceable so that the end user can better assess the climate balance. For this purpose, transport routes, cooling or energy consumption of the products are marked.
What is Denmark planning to do?
Unfortunately, avocados do not grow in our gardens. It is actually clear that these and other foods are not good for the climate. But how damaging are they exactly? And what about a bottle of lemonade? Or packaged minced meat?
When awarding the label, however, several considerations would have to be made. In the future, it would be necessary to compare the climate impact with the nutritional value of a product, said the director of the Farmers Association Landbrug & Fødervarer, Morten Høyer.
In addition to the sticker, the government is planning a campaign to make it easier for consumers to buy more climate-friendly products. The initiative is to be developed in cooperation with several supermarkets. In our everyday life, there are many things ensuring that unnecessary amounts of carbon dioxide do not get into the environment. Environmentally conscious people would want to avoid flying to their holiday destination, or just half filling their washing machines. Carbon dioxide emissions in 2016 amounted to 6.7 tonnes per inhabitant, according to the Federal Statistical Office. In Germany, this number was 9.5 tons.
And what about the labels in Germany?
In future, the new badge could make it easier for the Danes to pay more attention to their own CO2 footprint in their everyday lives.
In Germany, there already are various - albeit few - labels that show consumers how climate-friendly a product is. However, the consumer center Hamburg showed in a 2016 study that these often have major weaknesses in terms of transparency and credibility.
Source: Bento.de