In 3 AH to go stores in Groningen, Wageningen and Zaandam, customers can now see 2 prices when they pay for their cup of coffee: the price they normally pay and the “true price”, including social and environmental costs in the entire chain of a product. Albert Heijn invests the proceeds of the extra amount that customers are willing to pay for the true price coffee in Rainforest Alliance improvement projects in the coffee chain.
Experiment
Albert Heijn wants to use this experiment to increase awareness of social and environmental costs, to help make more sustainable choices and to investigate what customers think of it. The true price of coffee is the sum of various social and environmental costs, such as harmful CO2 emissions, scarce water consumption, use of raw materials and working conditions. The sum is based on the True Price method. This is a scientifically based and widely supported method to calculate the real price of products and services.
Coffee, milk and oat milk
For the experiment, the true price of coffee, milk and oat milk was calculated. A cappuccino with milk from cows, for example, is less sustainable than the variant with oat milk and therefore has a higher true price. For example, the normal price at AH to go of cappuccino with cow’s milk and cappuccino with oat milk is the same as for coffee: all € 2.00. But the true price is different: the most expensive is a cappuccino with cow’s milk (€2.28), followed by a cappuccino with oat milk (€2.11). The true price of coffee is € 2.08.
True Price
True Price is a social enterprise that helps to see and improve the real price of products. True Price strives for a world where products, including food, are sold with transparency about the real price and people who can voluntarily charge real prices.
Source: Albert Heijn
