MALMO, Sweden – Oatly Group AB, the world’s original and largest oat drink company, today announced the introduction of climate footprint labeling for select Oatly products in North America, starting with the brand’s newly reformulated line of Oatgurts — a range of great-tasting, non-dairy yogurt alternatives available in five flavors.
The effort to calculate climate footprints — intended to be the best estimate of the climate impact of a product — directly speaks to Oatly’s belief that consumer choice and education plays an integral role in shaping the future of our food system.
The full picture of a product’s impact
With the world facing a climate emergency, Oatly is empowering consumers to compare the climate impact of products while in the grocery aisle, just as they can compare those same products’ nutritional information.
Consumers should have access to the information needed to make informed purchasing decisions and understand the fuller picture of a product’s impact – how it can affect both their personal health, and the health of our planet.
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.”
Understanding the numbers and calling on other brands to join
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 a leading 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.
Unlike nutrition labels, there is no common or mandated methodology for CO2e labeling. Until standardization and a mandate become reality, Oatly wants to encourage other companies in the food industry to put their CO2e figures on their packaging. If Oatly is only one of a few to make this commitment, it’s difficult for consumers to make informed purchases against other products in the market.
Newly reformulated Oatly ‘s Oatgurts
Oatly’s revamped Oatgurts are the Company’s first North American products to display climate footprint on-pack. Improving on both taste and texture, the deliciously reformulated Oatgurts feature fewer ingredients, new blended fruit formats (replacing fruit on the bottom), and introduce a new flavor variety, Vanilla.
“The products we make at Oatly aim to make it easy for people to make the switch to non-dairy alternatives, and great taste is one of the most essential components of driving that conversion,” said Leah Hoxie, SVP of Innovation at Oatly North America. “This line of newly reformulated Oatgurts delivers on just that and more — deliciousness, great texture, and a variety of tasty flavors that people crave.”
Oatgurts featuring climate footprint on-pack range between 1.7 and 1.9 kg CO2e/kg of packaged food product. Flavors now available include Plain (24 oz and 5.3 oz), Vanilla (24 oz and 5.3 oz), Strawberry Blended, Mixed Berry Blended, and Peach Blended (all 5.3 oz), and are on-shelves at retailers across the US, including Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, and Wegmans.
Climate footprints for an additional 12 North American Oatly products, along with more information on calculation methodology, can be found on oatly.com/footprint.
