Most customers not willing to pay “true" environmental costs in campaign by supermarket chain – poll

This week a campaign addressing the “true” environmental cost of food products by German supermarket chain Penny is set to receive little support from customers, an online poll by YouGov suggests. Only 16 percent of respondents said they plan to support the campaign by buying the products, while 44 percent said they would not. In an attempt to raise awareness of the environmental cost of producing food, Penny launched its “true cost” campaign with support from researchers from universities in Nuremberg and Greifswald. For one week, Penny raised the price of nine products – from yoghurt to sausages and vegan schnitzel – to include climate, health, soil and water costs. The company said it would donate any extra income to a project to help make farming more sustainable, but also expected a big decline in sales as consumers struggle with inflation, reported Reuters. Farming association DBV called the campaign greenwashing, and consumer protection organisation Foodwatch said it was a “PR stunt”, reported dpa.

The value of the campaign lies in a real-life educational approach, but will have “limited impact”, writes Joachim Wille in an opinion piece in Frankfurter Rundschau. “There is a huge catch. Penny has only calculated the "true" price for nine of its 3,000 products in the range,” Wille writes. “2,991 are still wrong – and soon all of them again will be wrong.” The government had to change the framework conditions to really drive change and ensure a food sector compatible with nature, he writes.