Giving Compass' Take:

• Food Tank reports on Denmark's plan to climate label their food products in an effort to give consumers knowledge on their carbon footprint and shine a light on which practices produce healthy food more sustainably.

• If successful, how can other countries in Europe and even the US begin to implement proposals like this? How can donors support more active food measures that help our climate?

• Learn about the impact of climate change on health.

The Danish Government has announced that a climate labeling system on food products will accompany its plan to become carbon neutral by 2050. Officials from the Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities, and Climate stated that the Government is proposing to work with supermarkets to place stickers on all food products that clearly indicate their carbon footprint. The proposal would help consumers make informed choices, with Denmark’s Minister for the Environment, Lars Christian Lilleholt, explaining, “We want to give consumers the means to assess in supermarkets the environmental impact of products.”

Research from the University of Technology Sydney and Duke University suggests that using labels that are easy to understand may create demand for responsibly produced food. Lead author of the research, Dr. Adrian Camilleri, describes the current lack of transparency, “With an appliance such as a heater you can feel the energy used and see an electricity bill at the end of the month, so the impact is quite salient, whereas the impact of food production is largely invisible.”

Read the full article on climate labels on food in Denmark by Douglas Donnellan at Food Tank.