08. 12. 09. - 09:00

Greenpeace backing CO2 seals for foodstuffs

By Lisa Chapman

Greenpeace Austria has said it is in talks with supermarket chains over the placement of CO2 seals on food products.

The environmental group announced today (Thurs) it was talking to retail bosses about the seals - small labels stating how much CO2 was consumed in production of a good – which it claimed consumers wanted to see on products.

Greenpeace chief Alexander Egit said: "A coordinated approach will correspond to consumers’ desire for a coherent and transparent solution."

He added supermarkets would profit from early "CO2 optimisation" given the prospect of a CO2 tax.

Greenpeace consumer spokeswoman Claudia Sprinz said: "There are clear indications that Austrian consumers would welcome independent CO2 seals on food products."

She said a Eurobarometer study last April had showed that 85 per cent of Austrians wanted CO2 seals on foodstuffs.

Egit added the chains Wal-Mart (USA), Tesco (UK), Casino (France) and Migros (Switzerland) had already started using the seals and that pilot projects with German firms Rewe, DM, Frosta, Henkel, Tchibo and Tengelmann were also under way.

Werner Lampert, the initiator of Austrian supermarket chain Hofer’s "Zuruck zum Ursprung" (Back to the Source) project, said the chain’s current turnover from low-CO2 products meant the emission of 12,350 fewer tonnes of the gas annually - the equivalent of driving 16,000 kilometres or 400 times around the world at the equator, he claimed.

Egit added that Greenpeace was talking with other big Austrian supermarket chains and that Rewe and Spar were likely to decide by the end of the year whether their supermarkets would participate in the project.