All supermarkets, including Tesco, Lidl, Aldi and Morrisons, are set to change the labelling on packaging in stores.
To keep track of your health, all food items already show their sugar and fat content. But now, in a bid to help save the world's health, the carbon footprint of your food shop could soon be listed too.
A new eco-label traffic-light scheme, similar to those which list calories, sugar, fat and salt contents, is being worked on which will help climate-conscious Brits confused about the carbon cost of their food. A small number of brands including Oatly, coffee chain Benugo, drinks firm TENZING and Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca have already paved the way and started doing it, reported The Mirror.
READ MORE: We tried mince pies from Marks and Spencer, Aldi, Morrisons and there was a clear winner
A new poll has found that the public wants to make informed choices about the products they buy and feel misinformed about the environmental impact of their food choices. 20% said carbon labels would help change their consumer behaviour.
Drinks brand TENZING, which commissioned the report, has now launched a month-long campaign called Knowvember, which urges brands to declare their “carbon calories”, or frontprint, calculated based on factors such as packaging, where and how ingredients are sourced, and how it is manufactured.
Researchers found simple swamps, such as swapping a chocolate bar for a packet of Haribo-style sweets cuts the carbon by 70%, while greenhouse grown tomatoes for sunshine grown ones reduces the carbon footprint by half.
Oxford University and NGO Foundation Earth are working on a system which will grade food from green to red based on how much carbon was produced during manufacture and delivery. The makers of Walkers crisps and coffee chain Starbucks have signed up as well as supermarkets Tesco, Lidl, Morrisons, Aldi and Waitrose.
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