Climate-neutral products
More and more food is being advertised as “climate neutral”. For example, the “Gutes Land” mountain farmer’s milk from Netto, the good organic almond yoghurt, various Katjes products and the vegetarian mini meatballs from Aldi. The term climate neutral is a purchasing argument for many consumers. They hope for environmentally friendly, sustainable and climate-neutral products.
CO2 certificates
But some products are not nearly as climate-friendly as they seem.
At the consumer organization Foodwatch, Manuel Wiemann deals with climate labels: “Climate-neutral is understood to mean that the product does not have any harm on the climate. But ultimately this is misleading and wrong. Because the reality is that companies don't have to reduce emissions in order to be able to call themselves climate-neutral, but can simply buy their way out through CO2 certificates." The questionable products that are sold as climate-neutral include: B. Volvic water imported from France. Hipp complementary food jars that contain beef are labeled as climate-positive.
Questionable label
The “climate neutral” label from Climate Partner can be found on many products. The Munich company's business model: It helps companies calculate their emissions and then offset them, for example with a forest protection project in Peru. But what's behind it? Environmentalist Simon Counsell used satellite images to find out that after the project started in Peru - i.e. between 2010 and 2020 - forest clearance increased in the project area.
However, Climate Partner reports that forest protection projects would indeed reduce emissions. In addition, forest loss in the project area is lower than in comparable areas.
There is a lack of transparency
We are on the phone with two climate protection experts from Sylvera who are responsible for evaluating climate protection projects and to whom Climate Partner also refers. The experts also confirm that forest clearing has continued in the area. The crucial question, however, is whether even more trees would have been felled without the forest protection project. However, this can hardly be checked afterwards.
It is precisely this lack of transparency that is the real problem, criticizes Heike Silber from the Stuttgart consumer advice center. It is difficult for consumers to determine what is behind the climate labels. It is therefore best to think about a climate-friendly diet in general and avoid animal products, for example. Consumer advocates also advise: Buy regionally and seasonally. That helps the climate more than many labels.
Note: This video is an extract from the SWR Marktcheck broadcast on March 22, 2022: https://youtu.be/Q8yvM_PN660
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