With a "True Cost Supermarket", Professor Tobias Gaugler from the Nuremberg Technical University wants to draw attention to the sometimes horrendous follow-up costs for the environment and climate caused by food production.
Nuremberg – Fillet of beef from Brazil, lamb from New Zealand: The harmful climate impacts of the global food industry are a thorn in the side of Professor Tobias Gaugler from the Technical University of Nuremberg (THN).
Wrong subsidy guidelines would still put too much emphasis on cheap mass production in agriculture worldwide – with fatal consequences for the climate and the environment.
Food prices must rise in order to achieve climate targets
"We have a system error in the entire agriculture," says Gaugler.
Nature is the one who suffers.
In order to correct this "giant aberration", Gaugler wants to find out the "true price" for groceries.
"To do this, we are currently looking at factors such as the consumption of fertilizers, energy and land." This could allow food prices to be recalculated with regard to the negative impact on the climate.
Gaugler is currently showing how something like this could look like with a "true prices supermarket" at the world's leading trade fair for the organic food industry, which is currently taking place in the Franconian metropolis of Nuremberg.
"The meat sausage in our true-cost shop at the 'Biofach' costs almost twelve euros more per kilogram than in a normal grocery store," says Gaugler, explaining the idea behind the project.
"The current prices in the supermarket lie," says Gaugler, emphasizing that there are numerous additional costs and consequential damage to the climate and environment in the production of food.
That is why the “actual” price tag is displayed in the “true supermarket” alongside the current price tag.
The idea: In order to make food production more sustainable, customers should pay the “real” prices at the checkout.
Video: Trends at this year's Biofach
"Meat Tax" should be implemented quickly
The catch: Meat products in particular such as ham sausage would become significantly more expensive in order to reduce the climate impact of animal husbandry.
Anyone who wants to save the climate would have to introduce a CO₂ tax on food as quickly as possible in order to change supermarket prices as radically and quickly as possible.
Around a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases are caused by global livestock farming in agriculture.
Therefore, the animal diet of the population would have to decrease significantly to save the climate, says the researcher.
In addition, health problems such as obesity could be successfully combated by eating less meat.
In addition, plant-based foods could be produced on a smaller area with less environmental pollution, Gaugler promotes a largely vegan lifestyle.
Normally he teaches future managers in the organic sector in the branch of the TH Nuremberg in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz.
"We are all believers there," says the new professor, who almost exactly a year ago accepted the call from Augsburg to the home of the well-known organic brewery Lammsbräu.
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Plant-based food from the health food store is the best choice for Gaugler's food-climate balance from the farm to the customer.
Meat should only end up on the table in small quantities in organic quality from the region in order to save the climate.
According to this polluter pays principle, Gaugler also wants to increase the prices for non-organic products.
The desired side effect: Customers put hardly any meat and much more organic in their shopping carts.
Information should explain higher prices in the supermarket
At the Biofach trade fair, visitors to the "True Cost Supermarket" should be able to experience how the model could work in practice.
Additional information is displayed on the digital product boards as to why many foods should actually cost much more.
"We also want to find out the reactions of the visitors, what role the background information plays in acceptance," says Gaugler and hopes that more and more customers will put little meat and much more organic in their shopping carts as quickly as possible.
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