Consumers prioritise animal welfare over lower climate footprint
Danish and international consumers prioritise better animal welfare over a smaller climate footprint if they must pay a higher price for their pork. This is shown by a new study from the University of Copenhagen, which has also examined consumer priorities in Germany, Great Britain, Shanghai and China.
"The answers clearly show that only aiming for climate improvements in pig production is not what consumers care about when they buy pork," says Professor Peter Sandøe, who takes part in the study.
"Consumers think it's very important that the pigs have had a good time during life, and that's more important than that the production is climate friendly," he says.
When consumers must choose directly between pig welfare and climate, 53 percent of Danes believe that better pig welfare is more important than a lower climate footprint, while only 18 percent think the opposite. Only 25 percent think that the two considerations are equally important.
Peter Sandøe says that the results of the survey send an important signal to both politicians and the grocery industry. The climate problem can hardly be solved by putting a label on a package of pork saying that it is climate friendly. Because that is not what consumers are asking for.
He encourages politicians and the industry to think innovatively and points out that the grocery trade can save a lot of costs by not having so many types of the same product next to each other in the cold counter.
"You could consider making a national compromise along the lines of the one that was agreed on caged eggs, which seems to be on the way for ‘turbo chickens’. In other words, where you decide that you only want pig in the shops that has met certain animal welfare requirements,” says Peter Sandøe.
Optimistic Gates
Professor Sandøe is not at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, but the multibillionaire, computer engineer and humanist Bill Gates (Microsoft) is there.
In one of his newsletters recently he argues that the climate crisis can be solved with the right organisation (read incentives) as well as new and better technology.
"Climate progress is moving ahead," he argues. If Gates is right, perhaps we can eat meat with a clear conscience anyway and prioritize animal welfare higher?
Sources: FT, dagligvarehandel.dk, Bill Gates Newsletters, UN, Economist.