Choice architecture promotes sustainable choices in online food-delivery apps

Paul M Lohmann, Elisabeth Gsottbauer, James Farrington, Steve Human and Lucia A Reisch

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Greenhouse gas emissions from the food system constitute about one-third of the global total, hence mitigation in this sphere of human activity is a vital goal for research and policy. This study empirically tests the effectiveness of different interventions to reduce the carbon footprint of food choices made on food-delivery apps, using an incentive-compatible online randomized controlled trial with 4,008 participants. The experiment utilized an interactive web platform that mimics popular online food-delivery platforms (such as Just Eat) and included three treatment conditions: a sign-posted meat tax, a carbon-footprint label, and a choice-architecture intervention that changed the order of the menu so that the lowest carbon-impact restaurants and dishes were presented first. Results show that only the choice-architecture nudge significantly reduced the average meal carbon footprint—by 0.3 kg/CO2e per order (12%), driven by a 5.6 percentage point (13%) reduction in high-carbon meal choices. Moreover, we find evidence of significant health and well-being co-benefits. Menu repositioning resulted in the average meal order having greater nutritional value and fewer calories, whilst significantly increasing self-reported satisfaction with the meal choice. Simple back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that menu repositioning would be a highly cost-effective policy instrument if implemented at scale, with the return on investment expected to be in the range of £1.28 to £3.85 per metric ton of avoided CO2 emissions, depending on implementation costs.

Keywords: carbon-footprint labeling; choice architecture; food-delivery apps; low-carbon diets; repositioning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
Date: 2024-10-31
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dcm, nep-env, nep-exp and nep-nud
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in PNAS Nexus, 31, October, 2024, 3(10). ISSN: 2752-6542

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:125835

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