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Consumer Responses to the Carbon Labelling of Food: A Real Life Experiment in a Canteen Practice
Author(s) -
Spaargaren Gert,
Koppen C.S.A. Kris,
Janssen Anke M.,
Hendriksen Astrid,
Kolfschoten Corine J.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
sociologia ruralis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.005
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1467-9523
pISSN - 0038-0199
DOI - 10.1111/soru.12009
Subject(s) - labelling , consumption (sociology) , action (physics) , climate change , food consumption , marketing , psychology , business , economics , ecology , agricultural economics , sociology , biology , social science , criminology , physics , quantum mechanics
The emerging debate on the climate impact of food is expected to result in the carbon labelling of food in the future. As yet, consumer responses to carbon labels are not well researched. A real life experiment was developed to study consumer responses to new carbon labels for food. A ‘light’ and a ‘comprehensive’ carbon labelling regime were stepwise introduced into the food practice of ‘having lunch in a canteen’. The resulting shifts in the behaviour and attitudes of regular canteen visitors were measured with the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. Despite their overall positive attitude towards climate change policies, the canteen visitors show clear resistance to some of the changes suggested, especially when new courses of action run counter to the dynamics of the existing routinised practice. Using practice theory as our reference, we discuss the role of information provision next to other policy instruments for facilitating behavioural changes towards low carbon food consumption.