How Green Is Your Shopping?

It’s often hard to be green. I have recently written elsewhere about the phenomena of Greenwashing, pointing to recent research showing that consumers rarely get what they sign up for out of green products. Wary of this, Swiss supermarket chains are launching new initiatives to provide better consumer guarantees for lowering the environmental impact of their purchases, making it just a little easier to be a good green citizen.

Switzerland’s two major supermarket rivals, Migros and Coop have launched different schemes – although potentially confusing for customers, this is at least an indication that competition for greenness is heating up.

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Migros has taken the most comprehensive approach with its ‘Climatop’ labelling initiative. Using a system developed by the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, Climatop measures carbon emissions based on the entire lifecycle of the product. The most environmentally friendly product in each category will be designated as a “Co2 Champion”, ultimately providing incentives for product manufacturers to develop environmentally friendly products which will stand out on crowded supermarket shelves.

Rival supermarket Coop initiated a similar initiative last year, labelling products which are delivered by air, whilst moving transportation from air to ship where possible. Coop plan to further improve product labelling to provide more comprehensive information to consumers, and have set-up a fund to offset its transport emissions in the meantime.

Consumer benefits

These schemes will not only benefit consumers who are actively looking for green options, but will potentially influence those who are currently ambivalent towards the environment. WWF Switzerland spokesman Fredi Lüthin recently told SwissInfo: “If there is a new supply, this may create a demand. A customer who previously didn’t think about it may now see two products, one with a label and one without, and the chances are that they will go for the one with the label.”

What’s not currently clear is the role that pricing will play in the initiatives. Both chains claim that their schemes are not commercially motivated, and there is little reason to suggest that environmentally friendly products will be priced at a premium. However, previous research has suggested that eco-friendly labelling can increase sales and price tolerance – we’ll keep an eye on that one.

Further reading:

SwissInfo - Supermarkets seek to boost green credentials, TalkClimateChange - The Next Big Thing is- Tap Water

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