EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Climate-Friendly Default Rules

Cass R. Sunstein () and Lucia A. Reisch ()
Additional contact information
Cass R. Sunstein: Harvard University
Lucia A. Reisch: Copenhagen Business School

Chapter Chapter 8 in Sustainable Consumption and Production, Volume I, 2021, pp 141-164 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Careful attention to choice architecture promises to open up new possibilities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions—possibilities that go well beyond, and that may supplement or complement, the standard tools of economic incentives, mandates, and bans. How, for example, do consumers choose between climate-friendly products or services and alternatives that are potentially damaging to the climate but less expensive? The answer may well depend on the default rule. Indeed, climate-friendly default rules may well be a more effective tool for altering outcomes than large economic incentives. The underlying reasons include the power of suggestion; inertia and procrastination; and loss aversion. If well-chosen, climate-friendly defaults are likely to have large effects in reducing the economic and environmental harms associated with various products and activities. In deciding whether to establish climate-friendly defaults, choice architects (subject to legal constraints) should consider both consumer welfare and a wide range of other costs and benefits. Sometimes that assessment will argue strongly in favor of climate-friendly defaults, particularly when both economic and environmental considerations point in their direction. Notably, surveys in 17 countries worldwide show that majorities in many nations are in favor of climate-friendly defaults.

Keywords: Climate-friendly default rule; Choice architecture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:spr:sprchp:978-3-030-56371-4_8

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783030563714

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-56371-4_8

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-23
Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-030-56371-4_8