In May 2009 the supermarket chain Hofer (belonging to German retailer Aldi Süd) introduced a carbon label for its organic food portfolio “Zurück zum Ursprung” (back to the roots). The label compares emissions of organic food production with average values from conventional agriculture, disclosing the difference in CO2eq emissions as a percentage. The label was developed by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and was formally initiated by the Austrian pioneer in organic farming, Werner Lampert. The 74 organic products assessed showed better CO2-performance than the conventional products compared. The basic conditions in transport, processing, packaging and warehousing were assumed to be the same for most of the assessed organic and conventional products. The differences in total GHG emissions are (mostly) directly due to the different farming methods. Influencing variables are the type and quantity of applied fertilizer, the amount of imported soya animal feed and agricultural productivity. FiBL also conducted a study highlighting the importance of land use change and humus enrichment (carbon sequestration) and assigning transport processes a minor relevance than expected (the share of total CO2 emissions mostly lies between 5% and 20%). There are plans to assess a further 20 to 30 products, covering the complete range of products. All the carbon footprints can be looked up at the project website at: www.zurueckzumursprung.at