15 April 2021

Danish supermarket marks climate-friendly options with a cloud

To help customers shop for groceries with lower carbon footprints, Danish supermarket Netto has started labelling climate-friendly options. A cloud icon on shelf labels indicates which items are least harmful when it comes to CO2 emissions.

Netto is labelling two sets of products that score highest when it comes to being green: the top 25% overall, and the top 25% of products within a given category. For example, meat might not be in the top 25% overall, but within the meat category, certain options are better than others. Labelling is based on a database compiled by green think tank CONCITO, which has mapped the climate footprint of 500 foods, allowing them to be compared across categories.

The project is running as a pilot in two stores in Copenhagen and Horsens, and Netto and CONCITO will be analyzing purchasing data to figure out if climate labelling actually contributes to changes in consumer buying patterns.

Netto would like the grocery sector to introduce a national climate label — much like the keyhole symbol that's already used in Denmark to indicate healthier foods — and hopes its first forays will contribute to the development of a shared labelling system.

Related: Grocery store raises prices to reflect hidden social and environmental costs — Belgian supermarket marks every product with a sustainability grade