Nudging towards sustainable meat consumption: a natural field experiment

The greatest leverage of reducing anthropogenic climate impact lies within curbing the increasing trend of global meat consumption. As such, there is a need for new types of tools within policy and business, as targeting food consumption with standard policy measures has proven difficult. This study examines the role of altering choice architectures in grocery stores in Sweden by implementing three types of so-called nudges with the purpose of making consumers reduce their minced beef consumption by supplementing it with carrots and beans. The effects of the nudges were tested through a natural field experiment involving 26 ICA stores in Stockholm-Mälardalen region. The results show a significant increase of consumption of carrots and beans. To determine if the nudge-intervention has an effect (a reduction) also on the minced beef, more research is needed. The study provides insights of what could work when it comes to applying nudges in food stores and concludes that nudging has the potential of being a valuable tool for policy makers and business leaders to steer consumers towards more sustainable consumption. Moreover, the study contributes to the understudied field of green nudging and natural field experiments in food stores.