This article was published in TSE science magazine, TSE Mag. It is part of the Spring 2024 issue, dedicated to “Climate Revolution”. Discover the full PDF here and email us for a printed copy or your feedback on the mag, there.
Nudges are often used by governments as a low-cost, ‘light touch’ way to encourage low-carbon behavioral changes. For example, telling families about their neighbors’ electricity bills may ‘nudge’ them to use less energy. But the impact of such measures is a drop in the ocean, says Sylvain Chabé-Ferret. In a recent contribution with his TSE colleague Anouch Missirian to ‘One Earth’ journal, he argues that more forceful action will be needed to avert climate disaster.
WHY ARE NUDGES NOT ENOUGH?
Our review of the available evidence suggests that nudges, while often cost-effective, have very small effects. In my own study, we find that information letters and other non-monetary incentives only trigger pro-environmental behavior in at most 1%–2% of the French farmers who receive them. Nudges may also backfire, perhaps due to slippery psychological mechanisms. In another recent paper, my coauthors and I show that poorly targeted nudges can decrease the adoption of alternatives to chemical pesticides.
‘NUDGE’ policies aim to steer us toward better choices, without using large carrots or sticks. Behavioral science shows even the smallest changes – to road markings, say, or the wording of a question – can encourage more responsible decisions by changing the way we look at our options.
WHICH POLICIES ARE MORE EFFECTIVE IN CHANGING BEHAVIOR?
Effective policies must be more assertive and guide all actors towards climate goals. Command and control regulations, or price interventions like cap and trade, taxes, and feebates (see Isis Durrmeyer, pages 26-27), have a much better track record at achieving environmental targets. For example, the EU’s market-based Emissions Trading Scheme induced manufacturers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 14-16%, with no apparent contractions in economic activity. Making each unit of environmental degradation costly through tradable quotas has also been successful in improving air quality in the US and replenishing the world’s fisheries.
HOW CAN THIS APPROACH BE APPLIED TO ALL CITIZENS?
The legitimacy and political acceptance of environmental measures that target consumer behavior will hinge on perceptions of fairness. Green taxes on heating, transport, and meat are unpopular and risk penalizing poorer families that spend a higher proportion of their income on these expenses. More attractive alternatives include allocating a free tradable carbon quota to each household, and policies that increase the price of carbon according to income or carbon consumption.
FURTHER READING
- Sylvain Chabé-Ferret et al. (2023) - Non-Monetary Incentives to Increase Enrollment in Payments for Environmental Services
- Sylvain Chabé-Ferret et al. (2023) - When Nudges backfire : Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment to Boost Biological Pest Control – CEE-M
