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Revisiting the promise of carbon labelling

Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 132–140 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Carbon labelling systems can inform individual and organizational choices, which potentially reduce the carbon footprints of goods and services. We review the ways labelling is conceptualized and operationalized, and the available evidence on effectiveness. The literature focuses mainly on how labelling affects retail consumer behaviour, but much less on how labelling affects the behaviour of the organizations that produce, transport and sell products despite preliminary research suggesting that the effects on corporate behaviour may be substantial even without strong consumer responses. We consider key challenges for carbon labelling systems related to standard setting, data collection and use, and label design. We summarize the available knowledge, identify key research questions and identify steps towards achieving the promise of carbon labelling.

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Fig. 1: Illustrative examples of resolution levels offered by carbon labels.

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Acknowledgements

K.S.N. was funded by the Carlsberg Foundation, grant no. CF20-0285. T.D.’s contributions were supported in part by Michigan AgBio Research. M.P.V.’s contributions were supported by the Climate Change Research Network and the Vanderbilt Dean’s Fund.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Khan M. R. Taufique, Kristian S. Nielsen.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oxford Brookes Business School, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK

    Khan M. R. Taufique

  2. Department of Marketing, Curtin University, Miri, Malaysia

    Khan M. R. Taufique

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Kristian S. Nielsen

  4. Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Thomas Dietz

  5. Environmental Science and Policy Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Thomas Dietz

  6. Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA

    Thomas Dietz

  7. Department of Human Ecology and Rutgers Energy Institute, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Rachael Shwom

  8. Social and Environmental Research Institute, Shelburne Falls, MA, USA

    Paul C. Stern

  9. Vanderbilt Law School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Michael P. Vandenbergh

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  2. Kristian S. Nielsen
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  3. Thomas Dietz
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  4. Rachael Shwom
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  5. Paul C. Stern
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  6. Michael P. Vandenbergh
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All the authors contributed significantly to conceptualizing the research and to writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kristian S. Nielsen.

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Nature Climate Change thanks Katrina Kuh and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Taufique, K.M.R., Nielsen, K.S., Dietz, T. et al. Revisiting the promise of carbon labelling. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 132–140 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01271-8

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