Coop Sweden first to show the food’s sustainability footprint

Scan the barcode on the product you are going to buy – and get the product’s sustainability footprint analysed across ten areas. Coop has just released sustainability declarations on over 10,000 items. It is a completely new and world-leading way to help customers make more informed choices, according to the chain.

By scanning the barcode on a product, the customer receives information about the product’s footprint based on ten different areas related to climate, environment and society. The sustainability declaration has a scale between one and five in each area. The lower the number of a product, the lower the sustainability footprint the product is judged to have. The sustainability declaration will help customers eat more sustainably, but also guide the development of Coop’s range.

Coop’s sustainability declaration is based on the Sustainable Food Chain’s selection of ten aspects for sustainable products, which in turn are based on the UN’s 17 global goals for sustainable development, Agenda 2030. The Sustainable Food Chain is an initiative from the WWF.

Based on the ten areas included in the sustainability declaration, recognized research and official data are used to classify production countries and / or raw materials and create sustainability declarations for the goods. The model is based on the country of origin of the raw materials (primary production) as well as where the processing took place.

The ten areas are: Climate, Biodiversity, Fertility, Water, Pesticides, Eutrophication, Animal Care and Antibiotics, Working Conditions, Locals, and Law Enforcement and Traceability.

The regulations, developed by Coop, which show the calculation model, sources and method, are open to everyone to read. The regulations are regularly revised as research progresses and new useful sources for data become available.