Chapter 6. Consumer interest in sustainability and attitudes towards a common sustainability label

Respondents were interested in sustainability and sustainability-related labels when it comes to food, with very minor differences between countries. Although interested, respondents believe that they do not know a lot about sustainability labelling in food products (Table 18). There were minor differences between countries in terms of how knowledgeable respondents felt about sustainability labelling in food products, with respondents in Sweden regarding themselves slightly more knowledgeable, and those in Latvia and Estonia reporting slightly lower levels of subjective knowledge.

Table 18. Interest in sustainability and labels and self-perceived knowledge about sustainability labelling

	Denmark	Finland	Norway	Sweden	Lithuania	Latvia	Estonia
Interest in sustainability and labels in food	4.6 a	4.7 a	4.2 b	4.4 b, c	4.6 a, c	4.5 a, c	4.6 a, c
Subjective knowledge of sustainability labelling in food products	3.3 b	3.3 b	3.1 c	3.6 a	3.2 b, c	2.8 d	2.7 d
Note. Mean values shown. Scales from 1 to 7, higher values represent higher level of the construct. Per construct, different letters across countries denote significant differences in the means of the construct between countries in one-way ANOVA, multiple comparison test with Games-Howell adjustment.

Respondents’ openness towards a hypothetical common sustainability label across the EU was assessed by asking people about their attitudes and willingness to use such a food label when making food choices. The scenario given to people when asking about their attitudes and willingness to use was ‘If a common sustainability label would be developed / available across the EU that informs about the overall sustainability of food products taking into account several sustainability aspects’ (for willingness to use this statement was finished with ‘how likely would you be to use it when you choose food?’)

Respondents across countries are open towards a common sustainability label for food products across the EU. They show positive attitudes as well as willingness to use such a label when making food choices. The different countries are very similar in their general openness towards such an initiative as any of the minor differences are negligible (Table 19).

Table 19. Attitude and willingness to use a hypothetical common label

	Denmark	Finland	Norway	Sweden	Lithuania	Latvia	Estonia
Attitude towards hypothetical common label	5.3 a, b	5.3 a, b, c	5.2 b, c	5.3 a, b	5.6 a	5.3 a, b	5.0 c
Willingness to use hypothetical common label	4.9 b, c	5.0 a, b, c	4.9 c	5.0 a, b, c	5.2 a, b	5.2 a	4.8 c
Note. Mean values shown. Scales from 1 to 7, higher values represent higher level of the construct. Per construct, different letters across countries denote significant differences in the means of the construct between countries in one-way ANOVA, multiple comparison test with Games-Howell adjustment.