All food products have an impact on the environment, and they are responsible for about 1/4 of worldwide carbon emissions. However, in almost all cases animal agriculture and other animal products have a larger impact on the environment than plant-based ones. A grocery store in Sweden is now pricing its products to reflect that impact.
Felix is a food processor and grocery store in Sweden. The company decided that the carbon emissions a product has will be reflected in its price. Their motivations are to help customers make wise choices in what products they purchase, which can be difficult to understand while shopping.
The store, called Climate Store, has customers pay using CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalents. Customers have an allowance of 18.9 kilograms of CO2e. This climate-based currency helps Felix customers understand, hands-on, what the cost of their food choices are on the planet. It also allows them to budget while shopping within the store.
Felix also plans to start adding a new label to their manufactured food products. Products considered a wise choice will feature a Low Climate Impact symbol. Hopefully their store and product branding strategies will encourage shoppers to select more plant-based products.
