Do Fairtrade products contribute to emissions because they come from developing countries?
Only a tiny proportion of Fairtrade goods are transported by air. The vast majority are shipped, which has a much lower carbon footprint. Fairtrade also promotes sustainable agricultural practices and encourages farmers to invest in environmental protection programmes too. Given that Fairtrade products make such an overwhelmingly positive contribution to poor producers’ livelihoods and make a negligible contribution to climate change, Oxfam does not believe that the poorest and least responsible people should pay first for the need to lower global CO2 emissions. The first things we can do are to make the necessary changes to what we do in our homes, how we travel, and how we make governments more responsible in tackling the problem.
