The UK government must ensure that green labelling schemes give consumers accurate information to allow them to make informed choices, according to the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC).

Standardisation and consistent methodologies in calculating environmental impacts, such as PAS 2050, are essential to ensure that a wide variety of products, as well as differences in production and transportation methods, can be compared properly, it claims.

The government announced its intention to commission research into green labelling schemes in its response to the House of Commons’ International Development Committee’s report on Sustainable Development in a Changing Climate.

The research will look at existing schemes, practicalities, impacts on consumer behaviour and cost/benefit analysis to the industry, as well as considering how imported foods could be included and the impact on trade.

The International Development Committee’s report recognised the value of imports of airfreighted fresh produce and the need to put their environmental impact in perspective, recommending to the UK government the provision to consumers of accurate information about the way products have been grown as well as transported; research on how such a scheme might be introduced; and an assessment of the potential benefits to producers in developing countries.

Nigel Jenney, chief executive of the FPC, said: “We need to tackle the impact of climate change and to consider the carbon footprint of the whole supply chain. Let’s keep airfreight in perspective: total airfreighted imports of fruit and vegetables account for a mere 0.2 per cent of total UK greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, the consumption of fruit and vegetables accounts for only 2.5 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions in total. Horticultural exports are important contributors to fighting poverty in developing countries and airfreight has a place in sustainable development.

“There is no evidence that fewer aircraft would fly if purchases of imported fruit, vegetables and cut flowers were reduced. At least 60 per cent of airfreighted fresh produce is brought to the UK in the bellyhold of passenger aircraft. Consumers need reassurance that there is no need to restrict choice by excluding imported produce on the basis of its carbon footprint.”

The UK is self-sufficient by more than 74 per cent in agricultural produce which we are able to grow in the UK. Around 60 per cent of fruit and vegetables are imported into the UK, providing us with produce outside the UK season as well as varieties that simply cannot be grown in the UK. Research shows that some imported fruit and vegetables are grown in less greenhouse gas-intensive ways than the same products in the UK, with savings from greater efficiency outweighing the negative impacts of additional transport.

The government also considered the committee’s recommendation that the UK government considers paying to offset the airfreight emissions of horticultural products from developing countries. The UK government concludes that “the complexity of the mechanism proposed would make it expensive to administer and difficult to ensure that mitigation reductions were achieved.

"This would not be a politically feasible proposal for agreement internationally at Copenhagen, since it would entail payments for embedded carbon. The UK is leading on proposing a global fund for adaptation and mitigation to which all countries except the least developed would contribute according to their capabilities and responsibilities”.

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