Oatly has introduced climate footprint labeling for select products in North America, starting with its reformulated line of Oatgurts, oat milk yogurt.
While this marks the first time Oatly is releasing climate footprints for some of its products in North America, the brand began publishing climate footprints for many of its products in Europe in 2021.
“Transforming the food industry is necessary to meet the current climate challenge, and we believe providing consumers with information to understand the impact of their food choices is one way we as a company can contribute to that effort,” said Julie Kunen, director of sustainability at Oatly North America, in a statement. “We hope this next step of transparently bringing climate information to the forefront inspires other companies to do the same and helps consumers begin to recognize and learn about these indicators as they shop for their households.”
Oatly’s product climate footprints are expressed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents per kilogram of packaged food product, calculated based on a life cycle assessment approach from grower to grocer. CO2e considers the effect of different greenhouse gasses, including, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The calculation is validated through a partnership with climate change organization CarbonCloud.
Unlike nutrition labels, there is no common or mandated methodology for CO2e labeling.
Oatgurts' climate footprint on-pack range between 1.7 and 1.9 kg CO2e/kg of packaged food product. The line is currently available at retailers across the U.S., including Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Wegmans.
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