Ahead of today’s Newsweek event at COP31, Laith Amin, VP Growth & Strategic Development, EcoEngineers, an LRQA company, asks what it would take for shoppers to see the climate footprint of their food.
Shoppers already pay for farm practices they can see. Cage-free eggs and organic milk went mainstream because a label made something that happens on the farm visible on the shelf.
Climate information rarely makes that journey. Pick up a pot of yogurt and there is no way to know the carbon intensity of the dairy farm behind it. Few people buying beef would guess that grass-fed cattle typically produce more planet-warming methane than grain-fed cattle. By the time a product reaches the shelf, the farm’s data has usually been lost somewhere in blending, processing and distribution.
That gap has a cost. Farmers who invest in lower-carbon practices can’t get paid for them if downstream buyers can’t see the difference. Brands can’t make claims with confidence. Consumers who would choose a lower-carbon product have no way to find it.
The technology to close the gap exists. Data can now travel from the farm through blending, production, distribution and retail. A climate facts panel beside the nutrition label could make climate-smart production visible and give shoppers a reason to reward it.
A label is only as good as the claim behind it
Concern about greenwashing is widespread, and carbon markets have seen ambitious claims backed by too little rigor. Consumers will pay more for a lower-carbon product only when they trust the number on the pack.
Four safeguards make that number trustworthy:
- High-quality life-cycle assessment and carbon accounting, done independently, to establish the product’s carbon footprint.
- Chain of custody back to the farm, so a low-carbon attribute stays with the product it belongs to.
- Independent verification against a neutral standard, by an organization with no financial stake in the outcome.
- A standardized protocol to make all this happen, produce auditable data and give consistent, reliable measurements over time.
That model has protected consumers for a century, from electrical safety to environmental claims. Applying it to the climate footprint of food is the natural next step.
Verification as a profit center
Many companies still treat verification and compliance as a box to tick. The ones that pull ahead will use verified data, chain of custody and climate labeling to differentiate their products, earn supplemental income from carbon markets and return value to the rural communities that grow their food.
Join the conversation
Today, I’ll be joining Newsweek’s Feeding the Future event at COP31 focusing on food system resilience and global supply chains. We’ll share more insights throughout the week.