Key Food Choices and Climate Change
Final Report Abstract
The project "Key Food Choices and Climate Change" explored the role of consumer food choices in mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, focusing on high-emission foods like meat. Previous research predominantly addressed health impacts, often neglecting the significant environmental consequences of food choices. This project aimed to fill this gap by targeting specific high-emission foods—key food choices (KFC)—and exploring pathways to reduce their consumption. The project generated significant findings from eight published studies. Key insights revealed that habitual meat-eaters preferred reduced meat portions over authentic vegetarian options, challenging initial expectations. This suggests that strategies promoting gradual meat reduction might be more effective and publicly accepted than complete substitution. Additionally, the project emphasized the role of carbon labels in influencing consumer behaviour, recommending how policy efforts should standardise and simplify such labels to enhance consumer understanding. Another study found that consumer attention to carbon footprint labels was limited in complex decision environments, although attention to a leading nudge (e.g., increasing the salience of the information) can alter consumers’ search behaviour. However, such nudges need to also consider consequences on non-nudged sustainability criteria. Further research examined the effectiveness of default nudges in out-of-home settings, showing that these interventions successfully reduced meat consumption, even when transparency and consumer autonomy were maintained. Public acceptance of these nudges was high in the given setting. A review of nudge intrusiveness highlighted the importance of balancing effectiveness with ethical considerations, advocating for low-intrusiveness strategies like enabling active choices and transparent nudges. This study is especially important for promoting widespread adoption of such strategies. Overall, the project provided valuable evidence for strategies to reduce food-related GHG emissions in the consumer domain. By advocating for incremental changes in meat consumption and refining the design of environmental labels and nudging interventions, the findings support both climate change mitigation and the promotion of healthier dietary patterns. These results are relevant not only for environmental policy but also for public health and the food industry, underscoring the need for integrated approaches to sustainable food consumption based on consumer behaviour research.
Publications
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Options to design more ethical and still successful default nudges: a review and recommendations. Behavioural Public Policy, 8(2), 349-381.
Lemken, Dominic
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The price penalty for red meat substitutes in popular dishes and the diversity in substitution. PLOS ONE, 16(6), e0252675.
Lemken, Dominic
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Public acceptance of default nudges to promote healthy and sustainable food choices. BMC Public Health, 23(1).
Lemken, Dominic; Wahnschafft, Simone & Eggers, Carolin
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The price penalty on meat substitutes—Consumers prefer reduced meat portions over novel meat alternatives and authentic vegetarian dishes—Final stage of a registered report. Q Open, 3(1).
Lemken, Dominic & Langen, Nina
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A choice architect’s guide to the (autonomous) galaxy: a systematic scoping review of nudge intrusiveness in food choices. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1).
Lemken, Dominic; Erhard, Ainslee & Wahnschafft, Simone
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Attention to carbon footprints in food choices and the crowding out effect of attention‐leading nudges. Business Strategy and the Environment, 33(8), 8493-8507.
Lemken, Dominic; Asioli, Daniele & Schoppa, Frederick
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EU climate labeling policy: Analyzing consumer’s comprehension of CO2 footprint labels. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 17, 101248.
Dreist, Denise; Weinfurtner, Tobias; Spiller, Achim & Lemken, Dominic
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Evidence on the Effectiveness-Acceptance Trade-Off Between Forced Active Choice and Default Nudging: A Field Study to Reduce Meat Consumption in Cafeterias. Environment and Behavior, 56(3-4), 179-204.
Lemken, Dominic; Simonetti, Aline; Sindermann, Gloria & Estevez, Magnasco Ana Ines
