Project description
Overcoming barriers to sustainable behaviour
The urgency to meet Paris Agreement goals is clear. Yet, despite increasing availability of sustainable options, their adoption remains sluggish. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the ECO-HURDLES project addresses this gap. It aims to uncover the reasons why sustainable behaviours fail to spread through society. Focusing first on individual perceptions and biases, then on social dynamics and barriers to the adoption of sustainable behaviours, the project tests interventions to promote sustainable choices. By bridging gaps in understanding and behaviour, ECO-HURDLES aims to accelerate Europe’s path to climate neutrality by 2050. Its insights promise to shape policies and empower consumers to make informed, sustainable choices, crucial for a greener future.
Objective
The need for action on tackling climate change has reached a make-or-break moment: we can only deliver on the commitments made in the Paris Agreement if we act now. Given the importance of consumer behaviour in addressing climate change and the urgency for action, accelerating the growth in the adoption of green practices is critical if Europe is to become a climate neutral continent by 2050. However, while the availability and consumption of sustainable product and service options has been growing, the diffusion of these sustainable practices in society has been slow, showing that early adoption of sustainable consumption practices does not sufficiently generalize to similar practices or other consumers. The overarching objective of this project is to study why instances of environmentally sustainable behaviour does not always invite more instances of such behaviour. I will study the hurdles first at the intrapersonal level by looking at downstream consequences of perceptual biases and testing intrapersonal consistency across different consumer domains. Then I will move to the interpersonal level, studying barriers that might prevent consumers from following or mimicking the green behaviour of others. At both levels I will test a number of theoretically justifiable remedies and nudges to correct for these biases. The project findings will provide valuable input in defining policy and strategies to encourage environmentally sustainable consumption and will help consumers in interpreting eco-information and understanding the effects of biases on their own consumer behaviour.
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
0484 OSLO
Norway