Examining COVID-19-Related Changes toward More Climate-Friendly Food Consumption in Germany

Karolin Schmidt, Hannah Wallis, Theresa Sieverding and Ellen Matthies
Additional contact information
Karolin Schmidt: Institute for Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Hannah Wallis: University Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
Theresa Sieverding: Institute for Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Ellen Matthies: Institute for Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-26

Abstract: The present study examined the overall potential that the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions have for the promotion of climate-friendly food consumption in Germany. We looked at COVID-19-related changes in people’s climate-friendly food-consumption behaviors by comparing retrospectively self-reported performances between the time period in which the COVID-19 restrictions were in place and the pre-COVID-19 period. Furthermore, we examined the durability of such COVID-19-related changes with regard to an imagined post-COVID-19 period and the role of people’s personal climate-protection norms in COVID-19-related behavioral changes. To do so, we conducted two online surveys in June/July 2020 with German consumers: (a) an online study in a sample that was representative of the German population (NCOR1 = 3092) and (b) another online study in a smaller sample of German consumers (NCOR2 = 300). Altogether, the data from both surveys indicated several COVID-19-related changes toward more climate-friendly food consumption, not only during the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions, but also with regard to long-term changes in a potential post-COVID-19 period. Furthermore, our results also provide initial empirical evidence that people’s personal climate-protection norms are relevant moderating factors of these short- and long-term COVID-19-related behavioral changes.

Keywords: sustainability; food consumption; COVID-19; climate protection; personal climate-protection norms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4267/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4267/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4267-:d:786574

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().