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

The increase in global temperatures requires substantial reductions the greenhouse emissions from consumer choices. authors use an experimental incentive-compatible online supermarket to analyze effect of a carbon-based choice architecture, which presents commodities customers high, medium, and low carbon footprint groups, reducing footprints grocery baskets. relate this architecture two other policy interventions: (1) bonus-malus tax on all products (2) moral goal priming using banner noting importance one’s footprint. Participants shopped their home store containing 612 existing food 39 nonfood for had data over three successive weeks, with interventions occurring second third weeks. Choice reduced participants’ significantly week by proportion choices made high-carbon aisle. both primarily overall spend. goal-priming led small reduction only. Thus, design marketplace plays important role achieving objective gas emissions.