Making the carbon basket count: Goal setting promotes sustainable consumption in a simulated online supermarket

Kanay, Ayşegül; Hilton, Denis; Charalambides, Laetitia; Corrégé, Jean-Baptiste; Inaudi, Eva; Waroquier, Laurent; Cezera, Stéphane

doi:10.1016/j.joep.2020.102348

Cited by 28 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…In addition, different consumer groups may respond to ecolabels in different ways [10]. Moreover, while studies have shown ecolabels to be effective at altering food purchasing or selection, these have often featured in relatively small numbers of products and/or participants, limiting the ability to examine effectiveness across the basket and different demographic groups [11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of environmental impact labels on the sustainability of food purchases: Two randomised controlled trials in an experimental online supermarket

et al. 2022

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Providing consumers with product-specific environmental impact information for food products (ecolabels) may promote more sustainable purchasing, needed to meet global environmental targets. Two UK studies investigated the effectiveness of different ecolabels using an experimental online supermarket platform. Study 1 (N = 1051 participants) compared three labels against control (no label), while Study 2 (N = 4979) tested four designs against control. Study 1 found significant reductions in the environmental impact score (EIS) for all labels compared to control (labels presented: values for four environmental indicators [-3.9 percentiles, 95%CIs: -5.2,-2.6]; a composite score [taking values from A to E; -3.9, 95%CIs: -5.2,-2.5]; or both together [-3.2, 95%CIs: -4.5,-1.9]). Study 2 showed significant reductions in EIS compared to control for A-E labels [-2.3, 95%CIs: -3.0,-1.5], coloured globes with A-E scores [-3.2, 95%CIs:-3.9,-2.4], and red globes highlighting ’worse’ products [-3.2, 95%CIs:-3.9,-2.5]. There was no evidence that green globes highlighting ’better’ products were effective [-0.5, 95%CIs:-1.3,0.2]. Providing ecolabels is a promising intervention to promote the selection of more sustainable products.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of environmental impact labels on the sustainability of food purchases: Two randomised controlled trials in an experimental online supermarket

et al. 2022

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“…Even for products in a relatively narrow product category that were chosen to be comparable to each other, characteristics other than position and price play important roles in determining the purchasing decisions. Research has pointed out the importance of habits and taste in food choices (Fox et al, 2021;Osman & Jenkins, 2021;Riet et al, 2011); our results show that such habits might be too ingrained to be changed by subtle modification of situational cues, and more explicit interventions such as giving consumers carbon targets for their baskets as done in Kanay et al (2021) might be needed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Testing the impact of overt and covert ordering interventions on sustainable consumption choices: a randomised controlled trial

Shi¹,

Ratajczak²,

Thornton³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The production, transportation, storage, and waste of food products have a significant impact on the environment. We investigated whether displaying products in ascending order of their carbon footprint in an online supermarket environment can shift consumer choices towards more sustainable options. We also examined whether the effect of the ordering intervention differs when the ordering is overt, where information about the ordering is explicit, compared to when it is covert and participants are not told about the ordering. We conducted a three-arm parallel-group randomised trial using 1842 online panel participants from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, who had previously shopped online. Participants shopped for a meal for two, choosing one product from each of six product categories in a simulated online supermarket environment. Six products were shown in a vertical list on each product category page. Products were randomly ordered for the control arm, whereas the products were ordered by carbon footprint in the covert and overt ordering arms. In the overt ordering arm, a statement was displayed in a box at the top of each product page about the ordering of the products. The primary outcome was whether one of the three most sustainable products was chosen in each product category. There was no effect of the covert ordering intervention on the probability of choosing more sustainable products compared with the control arm (OR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.88-1.07, p = 0.533). Furthermore, we could not reject the hypothesis that the effects of the covert ordering intervention and overt ordering intervention do not differ (p = 0.594). Analysis of the control condition showed that the positioning of products had no effect on choices, which may explain why re-ordering products also had no effect. In the overt condition, only 19.5% of people correctly answered that the products were ordered according to sustainability in a follow-up question, suggesting that they didn’t notice the statement.

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“…For instance, carbon labels changed behavior in a small choice set (Vanclay et al 2011), while traffic-light and kilometric labels (which report GHG in terms of kilometers driven by a car) on individual products successfully reduced the carbon footprint in a small experimental online supermarket (Muller, Lacroix, and Ruffieux 2019). Similarly, the use of color-coded feedback on the carbon footprint of a basket successfully reduces the total GHG purchased (Kanay et al 2021).…”

Section: Retail Interventions To Promote Sustainable Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable by Design: Choice Architecture and the Carbon Footprint of Grocery Shopping

Panzone¹,

Ulph²,

Hilton³

et al. 2021

Journal of Public Policy & Marketing

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The increase in global temperatures requires substantial reductions in the greenhouse emissions from consumer choices. We use an experimental incentive-compatible online supermarket to analyse the effect of a carbon-based choice architecture, which presents commodities to customers in high, medium and low carbon footprint groups, in reducing the carbon footprints of grocery baskets. We relate this choice architecture to two other policy interventions: a bonus-malus carbon tax on all grocery products; and moral goal priming, using an online banner noting the moral importance of reducing one’s carbon footprint. Participants shopped from their home in an online store containing 612 existing food products and 39 existing non-food products for which we had data on carbon footprint, over three successive weeks, with the interventions occurring in the second and third weeks. Choice architecture reduced carbon footprint significantly in the third week by reducing the proportion of choices made in the high-carbon aisle. The carbon tax reduced carbon footprint in both weeks, primarily by reducing overall spend. The goal priming banner led to a small reduction in carbon footprint in the second week only. Thus, the design of the marketplace plays an important role in achieving the policy objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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Making the carbon basket count: Goal setting promotes sustainable consumption in a simulated online supermarket

Cited by 28 publications

References 67 publications

Effects of environmental impact labels on the sustainability of food purchases: Two randomised controlled trials in an experimental online supermarket

Effects of environmental impact labels on the sustainability of food purchases: Two randomised controlled trials in an experimental online supermarket

Testing the impact of overt and covert ordering interventions on sustainable consumption choices: a randomised controlled trial

Sustainable by Design: Choice Architecture and the Carbon Footprint of Grocery Shopping

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