Willingness to pay for carbon footprint on foods

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) of Chilean consumers towards the carbon footprint of food products (fluid milk and bread), controlling for several consumer's attributes.

Design/methodology/approach

A contingent valuation method (double bounded dichotomous choice) was used to analyze the WTP, wherein personal interviews were applied to a sample of 774 supermarket consumers.

Findings

Chilean consumers show a positive attitude towards the carbon footprint concept. Consumers are willing to pay 29 percent for fluid milk and 10 percent for bread, over their average prices. It seems that WTP for foods is negatively related to the share of the product on the monthly household expense.

Research limitations/implications

Based on the results of this work, the WTP is unique for each product, and hence, any attempt to extrapolate these results must be done with caution. Further research should include a wider set of products.

Practical implications

Local Chilean companies could obtain an advantage over their competitors (e.g. gain market share) if their products exhibit the carbon footprint. Moreover, if a company has a particular product with a competitive (low) CF, it could charge prices higher than those of its competitors.

Originality/value

This is the first work that provides an analysis of the WTP for carbon footprint labeling of foods in developing countries.

Citation

Echeverría, R., Hugo Moreira, V., Sepúlveda, C. and Wittwer, C. (2014), "Willingness to pay for carbon footprint on foods", British Food Journal, Vol. 116 No. 2, pp. 186-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-07-2012-0292