Climate-neutral labeling for climate-friendly vs. climate-harmful food products: Consumer perceptions and implications

Abstract

Given the increasing prevalence of climate-neutral labeled products in the actual marketplace, this study analyzes the impact of climate-neutral labeling on consumer perceptions and purchase propensity. Only for climate-harmful products we found that climate-neutral labeling alters product perceptions and purchase propensity (while not for climate-friendly products). For climate-harmful products, a climate-neutral label leads consumers to value the objective contribution to climate protection associated with the label but also evokes various biased inferences (i.e., the product is perceived to [1] be less resource intensive, [2] use fewer chemicals and pesticides during agricultural production, and [3] be superior regarding ethical product benefits like fair trade and animal welfare). We also found that a more transparent labeling practice, which provides additional information of the label scope, reduces the biased inferences (1–2) or even avoids them (3).