Only a few consumers want to support the “true prices campaign” of the discounter Penny by buying the products with a significant price surcharge. This was the result of a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov, in which 3315 people were interviewed on Monday.
For the survey, 3,315 people in Germany aged 18 and over were interviewed on Monday. The results were weighted and are representative of the German population aged 18 and over. The question read: “From today, July 31, 2023, the discounter Penny will charge the “true prices” for 9 of its more than 3000 products for a week, i.e. the amount that should actually be calculated taking into account all the environmental damage caused by production. This makes products from cheese to Wiener sausages up to 94 percent more expensive. Penny wants to donate the additional income to a project for climate protection and the preservation of family-run farms in the Alpine region. Are you planning to support the campaign this week by buying these products?”
According to this, only 16 percent of Germans plan to purchase products at the “true prices”, which also take into account the environmental damage caused by production. 44 percent do not plan to do so. Around 30 percent said they didn’t have a Penny Market in their neighborhood where they could shop. Ten percent did not provide any information. Respondents aged 55 and over were the least likely to say that they wanted to support the campaign (8 percent).
Since Monday, the discounter Penny has been charging the “true prices” for 9 of its more than 3,000 products for a week – i.e. the amount that should actually be calculated taking into account all the environmental damage caused by production. The products from cheese to Wiener sausages are up to 94 percent more expensive, as the retail chain announced. The chain, which belongs to the Rewe Group, wants to donate the additional income to a project for climate protection and the preservation of family-run farms in the Alpine region. According to its own statements, the retailer wants to use this step to create more awareness of the environmental impact of food production.
For the campaign, Penny is working together with the Technical University of Nuremberg and the University of Greifswald. The scientists analyzed the environmental damage caused by resource consumption, pollutant emissions and greenhouse gas emissions in the production processes of the selected products. In the case of dairy products, for example, the methane emissions from cows are significant, and in the case of all agricultural products, the CO2 and fine dust emissions from agricultural machinery. In addition, the use of pesticides and fertilizers, groundwater pollution and the consequences of agricultural use for the soil were evaluated. In other studies, the Federal Environment Agency has already examined how environmental damage and its consequences can be converted into money. On behalf of Penny, the researchers applied these damage cost factors to the calculated environmental impacts of the nine products. The result is a price surcharge that would have to be levied in order to approximately compensate for the environmental damage and its consequential costs.
See the video: Penny wants to accept a drop in sales for the environmental cost campaign.
The researchers emphasize that they do not want to “pillory” consumers, farmers or dealers. But there needs to be a debate about food pricing and how politics could intervene to make consumption more sustainable. Consumer reaction is also part of the experiment, the researchers say. “If the result is that almost nobody buys the more expensive products, then that is an interesting result in itself,” says economist Tobias Gaugler from the Technical University of Nuremberg. In any case, Penny expects a significant drop in sales due to the higher prices – “at least in the single-digit million range”.
