Plant-Based Options Prominently Displayed in Grocery Stores Reduce Emissions

A recent study by the EU research project VISIONARY has found that positioning plant-based alternatives more prominently and adding climate labels to online supermarkets can reduce the climate-related emissions of shopping baskets by 13 to 16 percent across several European countries.

The project, which concludes at the end of August 2026 after four years, ran large-scale online grocery experiments testing how labeling, price incentives, and product placement shift what shoppers buy. The combination of climate labeling and targeted placement of plant-based options delivered the emissions reduction compared with control groups.

Retail and procurement as levers

VISIONARY frames food retail and public institutions as underused points of intervention. On purchasing behavior, the online-supermarket work indicates that how plant-based products are presented, rather than their availability alone, changes uptake.

| **Country** | **Availability of Plant-Based Options** | **Prominence of Plant-Based Options** | | --- | --- | --- | | EU Average | 80% | 60% | | Germany | 85% | 65% | | Poland | 75% | 55% | | Hungary | 70% | 50% | | UK | 80% | 60% |

The project also points to public procurement in schools, daycare centers, hospitals, and cafeterias as an effective route to build demand for organic food, having identified weak demand as a barrier to organic farming development in Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the United Kingdom.

Farmers, trust, and biodiversity incentives

Other strands examined agricultural policy. A survey of 981 Danish farmers found the economic impact of a carbon tax is often overestimated, with VISIONARY concluding that transparent communication can reduce these misperceptions and raise acceptance of climate measures.

A separate survey of 1,077 farmers in Germany, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom looked at higher-ambition agri-environmental measures such as flowering areas and field margins. A government-backed biodiversity label could encourage participation, the project found, provided it comes with credible certification, advisory services, and marketing support.

For water resources, case studies in Spain, Hungary, and Denmark showed that collective approaches involving land users in decision-making were most effective against scarcity and pollution.

A whole-chain conclusion

VISIONARY’s overall finding is that European sustainability goals cannot be met through agricultural production alone and depend equally on processing, retail, foodservice, and public institutions. The transition succeeds only when farmers, businesses, policymakers, and consumers are addressed together, the project concludes, with technical solutions alone insufficient.

The project was funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101060538, with UK participants supported by UK Research and Innovation under the UK’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee.