Dish’s carbon emission data on the menu can promote climate-friendly choices among diners: Study

• Estimates suggest that one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are linked to food.
• A recent study has found that the carbon footprint of a dish could influence diners’ orders if greenhouse gas emission is listed on the menu.
• The study suggests that restaurant operators could use carbon labels and low-emission as default options to lower their business’s carbon footprint.

Estimates suggest that one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are linked to food. While better and more efficient food production, processing and storage technologies are the need of the hour, consumer behaviour also plays a crucial role. Thankfully, more and more people are becoming environmentally conscious and care about the food miles and emissions of what’s on their plate.

Now, a new study has found that a dish's carbon footprint could influence diners’ orders if greenhouse gas emissions are listed on the menu.

According to the study carried out by a team of German scientists, climate-friendly default options and labels indicating the carbon footprint of each dish may influence diners’ dish selections and the resulting environmental benefits.

“If we want more climate-friendly restaurant visits, highlighting dish components on a menu can really be an important parameter because it communicates what is normal and recommended. It may also be one of the easiest things restaurant owners can do," the authors of the study said.

Even previous research has shown that an individual’s food choices substantially affect their personal carbon footprint. However, most of these studies, which examine factors that influence environmentally appropriate food choices, have focused majorly on purchasing habits in terms of groceries eaten at home and not food ordered outside in restaurants.

In this study, Ann-Katrin Betz and colleagues tested two design approaches: i) menus with carbon labels indicating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with each dish; ii) menus showcasing dishes with components that could be modified to use ingredients with low or high emissions.

The team then created nine hypothetical menus to test these hypotheses, which varied in cuisine, presence of modifiable dishes, climate friendliness of default options, and presence of carbon labels, with 256 volunteers. Statistical analysis of the results showed that participants selected more climate-friendly dishes when carbon labels were present.

The diners also went with low-emission options rather than high emission options, even when they could modify the order. One example of such a dish was a salad that could be ordered with beef that has high emission, shawarma which has medium emission level, or falafel with low emission.

The study’s findings suggest that restaurant operators could employ both carbon labels and low-emission as default options in an effort to lower their business’s carbon footprint.

The study was published in the journal PLOS Climate this week and can be accessed here.

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