Carbon Neutral Digestive Initiative (CANDI) SEI report

The Carbon Neutral Digestive Initiative (CANDI) is a project by the Stockholm Environment Institute aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of food consumption in Sweden. The report details the findings of Stage 1 (April to December 2019), which focused on understanding consumer preferences, reviewing existing digital footprint applications, and engaging with food industry stakeholders to develop a concept for providing digestible environmental impact information at the point of purchase.

• Sweden's consumption-based climate footprint is significantly higher than its territorial emissions, with 8.93 tonnes CO2e per person per year in 2017. A majority of these emissions, 64%, are generated during production in other countries and imported for final consumption.
• Food consumption is a primary driver of consumption-based emissions in Sweden, contributing 31% of total consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions at the national level. The highest emissions are linked to processed foods and meat consumption.
• The food industry lacks a standardized method for calculating carbon footprints, leading to inconsistent results for the same products. This lack of transparency and standardization can confuse consumers and erode trust in the provided data.
• Current supply chain systems are not designed to trace specific ingredients, which limits the ability to provide carbon footprints for specific brands, forcing a reliance on average calculations.
• Research with Urban Deli consumers indicates a willingness to change food choices if provided with environmental impact information, provided that the data is easily digestible and delivered at the point of decision making.
• While retailers collect extensive customer purchase data via apps, it is often used for advertising or trend analysis rather than for promoting sustainable behavioral changes. Consumers expressed a preference for receiving environmental information in-store, supplemented by online or app-based data.
• There are concerns regarding the equity and feasibility of shifting to sustainable diets, as such diets may be unaffordable for low-income groups or create unjust effects for industry players.

APA

Vanhuyse, F., Dawkins, E., Ran, Y., van den Broek, A., Eriksson, A., Wirseen, C., Fredriksson, M., & Wolff, S. (2019). Carbon Neutral Digestive Initiative (CANDI) SEI report. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/carbon-neutral-digestive-initiative-candi-sei-report.pdf

Chicago

Vanhuyse, Fedra, Elena Dawkins, Ylva Ran, Ariane van den Broek, Aina Eriksson, Cecilia Wirseen, Morgan Fredriksson, and Sibel Wolff. Carbon Neutral Digestive Initiative (CANDI) SEI report. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2019. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/carbon-neutral-digestive-initiative-candi-sei-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{vanhuyse2019carbon, author = {Vanhuyse, Fedra and Dawkins, Elena and Ran, Ylva and van den Broek, Ariane and Eriksson, Aina and Wirseen, Cecilia and Fredriksson, Morgan and Wolff, Sibel}, title = {{Carbon Neutral Digestive Initiative (CANDI) SEI report}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = dec, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/carbon-neutral-digestive-initiative-candi-sei-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }