Nudging Sustainable Consumer Behavior

Humanity is increasingly facing the pressing challenges of today’s interconnected environmental and health crises. Especially, climate change and obesity pose two of the greatest threats to the world population. These threats are exacerbated by the profound impacts of current food production and agricultural practices. For instance, about 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the food supply chain, and about 80% of these emissions are caused by animal agriculture. Additionally, food choices have a strong impact on human health. Due to a diet high in processed and energy-dense foods, 39% of the world’s adult population was overweight or obese in 2016, leading to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, which are among the leading causes of death. Consequently, while food systems have the potential to support environmental sustainability and promote human health, they currently pose a risk to both. Simultaneously,they endanger the implementation of several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as SDG 3 (good health & well-being), SDG 12 (responsible consumption & production), and SDG 13 (climate action). As a result, providing a growing world population with healthy diets from sustainable food systems has become one of the main tasks for policy makers and practitioners in the 21st century.

Against this background, this dissertation takes a behavioral approach, employing nudging tools such as labels, social norms, and compromise, to encourage sustainable consumer behaviors, particularly food choices.

This dissertation entails three independent yet interconnected essays. All essays consider different aspects of the choice architecture, i.e., the socio-informative environment, and investigate its influence on sustainability-related behavioral outcomes, such as climate-friendly choices, animal-friendly choices, and healthy choices.