NEW YORK — While carbon neutral is appearing on food and beverage product packaging, consumers are not that familiar with the concept, according to a survey from Morning Consult.

The decision intelligence company surveyed 2,210 US adults on July 26. When asked how often they buy products with a carbon-neutral label, 52% said they had not seen the label. Other answers were always at 6%, sometimes at 14%, rarely at 14% and never at 14%.

The survey also placed 1,358 of the respondents into an environmental group, meaning they said they had changed their behavior some or a lot because of climate change. Within the environmental group, the percentages were 49% for had not seen the label, 9% for always, 20% for sometimes, 14% for rarely and 9% for never.

Respondents also were asked what carbon neutral means to them and given three options. The first option, a company that produces carbon emissions but uses carbon-offset programs to remove as much carbon as they produce from the atmosphere, was correct. The two incorrect options were a company that does not generate any carbon emissions during their manufacturing, provision or operational processes, and a company that produces carbon emissions without using any programs to offset the carbon emissions it produces.

Forty-one percent correctly identified the term while 29% were incorrect and 30% said they did not know. Within the environmental group, 45% correctly identified the meaning of carbon neutral, 32% did not, and 24% said they did not know.

Morning Consult, which has offices in New York, Washington and San Francisco, provides high-frequency survey research data.

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