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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/31/german-supermarket-penny-trial-climate-cost-food-meat-cheese>
"A leading discount supermarket in Germany has raised the prices of a selection
of its products to reflect their real cost on people’s health and the
environment.
In a week-long experiment in all 2,150 branches of the Penny chain, a range of
nine products, mainly dairy and meat, will be priced at what experts from two
universities have deemed to be their true cost, in relation to their effect on
soil, climate, water use and health.
The “wahre Kosten” or “real costs” campaign has seen the price of wiener
sausages rise from €3.19 to €6.01, mozzarella go up by 74% to €1.55, and fruit
yoghurt increase by 31% from €1.19 to €1.56.
The awareness promotion week is taking place in conjunction with academics from
the Nuremberg Institute of Technology and the University of Greifswald, and was
triggered by the conviction among consumer researchers that price tags in
supermarkets in no way reflect the true environmental or long-term health costs
of producing the foodstuffs and getting them on to retailers’ shelves.
Included are a range of foods from cheese and other dairy products to processed
meats such as sausages, as well as vegan meat replacements such as vegan
schnitzels (which were given a moderate 5% increase). Wiener sausages and the
popular maasdamer cheese, which has risen by 94% to €4.84, are among the items
to go up most in price. Regarding the cheese, the scientists calculated hidden
costs of 85 cents for climate-harming emissions such as methane and CO2, as
well as 76 cents for damage to the soil from intensive farming and animal feed
production, 63 cents for the effect of pesticides used, including their impact
on the health of farmers, as well as 10 cents for pollution of groundwater
through the use of fertiliser."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
