Study on a communication tool for carbon footprint of products

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25340132
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Environmental policy and social systems
• Research Institution: Muroran Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: NAGANO Koji 室蘭工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (90212109)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: カーボンフットプリント / ライフサイクルアセスメント / 環境持続性 / 食料問題

Outline of Final Research Achievements

130 products were calculated on their CFP and a publicity campaign was undertaken to inform consumers of the CFP. In the publicity campaign, we introduced the CFP in combination with human health. We introduced a semi-automatic calculation system so that we can shorten the computing time of the CFP.　 We introduced the CFP in combination with nutrient factors both in the package design and in the pamphlets. We expected that consumers would become interested in the CFP together with nutrient factors. 　The design is so simple and specific that the consumers can recognize the CFP at one view. 　We propose a new method that can estimate transportation distance in order to enhance calculation of the Carbon Footprint of Products (CFP) even though detailed addresses are not known.
We carried out questionnaire surveys in 2014 and 2015 in order to examine our approach. The results indicated that a ratio of consumers who knew our private-label of the CFP increased after our approach.

Free Research Field

環境情報評価学