Oatly introduces climate footprint labelling in North America

Oatly introduces climate footprint labelling for select Oatly products in North America, starting with the brand’s newly reformulated line of Oatgurts.

While this marks the first time Oatly is releasing climate footprints for some of its products in North America, Oatly began publishing the product climate footprints for many of the brand’s products in Europe in 2021.

“Transforming the food industry is necessary to meet the current climate challenge, and we believe providing consumers with information to understand the impact of their food choices is one way we as a company can contribute to that effort,” said Julie Kunen, director of sustainability at Oatly North America. “We’re motivated every day at Oatly to deliver products that are good for both people and the planet. We hope this next step of transparently bringing climate information to the forefront inspires other companies to do the same and helps consumers begin to recognize and learn about these indicators as they shop for their households.”

Oatly’s product climate footprints are expressed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (shortened to CO₂e) per kilogram of packaged food product, calculated based on a life cycle assessment approach from grower to grocer. CO₂e considers the effect of different greenhouse gasses including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The calculation, which is validated through a partnership with climate change organization CarbonCloud, aggregates the emissions into one single unit based on how much of each of those greenhouse gasses is emitted and their global warming potential over a 100-year period.

Climate footprints for 12 North American Oatly products, along with more information on calculation methodology, can be found on oatly.com/footprint.