Do consumers prefer a climate or eco label on food? The role of understanding, attitudes, and trust

• Consumers confuse climate and eco labels without prior information. • Information increases preference for the eco label, reflected in higher WTP. • Environmental concern, not climate concern, drives label preference and WTP. • Consumers accept approximate data if the label is considered useful. Interest in mitigating the food sector's environmental impact is growing in response to global warming and environmental pressures. This has resulted in a global push to develop front-of-pack sustainability labels. A key question is whether a label should focus solely on greenhouse gases (climate label) or also include other environmental impact categories (eco label). This study’s novelty lies in its direct comparison of climate and eco labels, using a before and after-information design in an online survey experiment with 511 participants in Germany, to investigate how consumer preferences differ between these two labels. The results indicate that many participants intuitively struggle to differentiate between climate and eco labels but prefer the eco label – especially in the informed condition. Additional information about potential inaccuracies in the underlying data neither changed overall trust in the labels nor affected label preference. While participants were generally willing to pay a price premium for both labels, environmental concern (and not climate concern) emerged as the key motivational driver behind willingness to pay (WTP) for both label types, helping to explain the stronger preference for eco labeling. Our findings highlight the critical role of consumer education in shaping label effectiveness and suggest that informed consumers prefer eco labeling over climate labeling. Based on this consumer perspective, policy makers and label designers should prioritize eco labeling and ensure that its multidimensional scope is effectively conveyed to consumers.