Low carb(on) groceries - European agri-food procurement and carbon labels: An exploratory research on the perception of carbon labels from a B2B perspective.
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
2022
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
87+6
Series
Abstract
Carbon labels (CL) are becoming a more widely used sustainability communication tool for Business to Consumers (B2C) purposes in food products. Existing literature has thoroughly researched their benefits in bringing increased consumer climate impact awareness and driving behaviour change. Similarly, the literature has assessed the criticisms surrounding consumer information overload/confusion and the unfair allocation of most responsibility concerning climate change onto consumers, disregarding systemic and structural aspects. In this respect, there is a gap in knowledge concerning the use of carbon labels for Business to Business (B2B) purposes. This thesis aims at researching this gap and the role that carbon labels can have in European + UK agri-food procurement tenders and potential in redistributing responsibility more equitably across the value chain. To achieve the aims of this research existing literature on B2C carbon labels examples, public green procurement theory, and other certification labels (FSC, Fairtrade, and Organic) used in private procurement have been analysed. From these, key insights have been formulated on the impact of market maturity in the use of carbon labels, financial risks associated with the labels, multi-focus criteria of CL, the effect of regulations, and operational barriers. In order to collect empirical data necessary to assess such insights within the context of European agri-food procurement, semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis have been employed. The key findings of this thesis confirm that carbon label adoption for B2B in the agri-food industry faces many of the same obstacles as B2C and other certification labels. Currently the market is not mature with low awareness. Business interview respondents see potentially hindering financial risks, expect increased operational challenges, and have a prevailing view that the labels require a wider scope to be truly sustainable. Additionally, some unexpected understandings were gained on; the potential backlash of scandals related to CL transparency, the added value of operational and process carbon reductions versus offsetting schemes, the benefit of life-cycle-assessment (LCA) harmonisation in increasing market uptake and reducing operational challenges, and the potential use of CL to influence future regulations. Although this thesis should be considered as a first limited attempt in addressing the knowledge gap in carbon labels for B2B agri-food procurement purposes, the results have potential practical implications for governments, agri-food businesses, as well as carbon label providers themselves, on how to improve and best utilize the role of such labels within the industry.Description
Thesis advisor
Shulist, PatrickKeywords
carbon labels, private agri-food procurement, QCA, Europe