Nudging and pro-environmental behaviour

This study explores how nudging instruments are used to encourage environmentally friendly behavior within energy consumption, waste management and resource efficiency. The study results provide very interesting examples of nudging resulting in reduced energy consumption in households due to providing real-time information, peer comparison and the use of green defaults, as well as increased and improved quality of waste sorting and reduction of food waste through changes in the physical environment. The study also presents the results of a field experiment examining how nudges can encourage consumers in a super market to choose to donate the deposit refunded from reverse-vending machines for beverage containers to an environment friendly cause. Overall, the findings of this study provide a strong case for using nudging instruments to promote more environmentally friendly behavior.