Behavioural insights and environmental sustainability: Key findings and policy implications from a systematic review

Abstract

Both private and public actors increasingly apply behavioural insights (BI) across various social and economic contexts, particularly in highly developed countries such as Canada. Grounded in extensive theory and research, BI can help develop novel ways to improve policy outcomes, including environmental sustainability. A unique strength of BI interventions, particularly notable in this domain, is their ability to promote "nudges" for sustainable environmental behaviours while preserving individual choice. Over the past decade, several governments-including those of Canada and the U.K.-have established dedicated BI units to inform public policies, especially in response to escalating environmental concerns and sustainability objectives. This review, based on comprehensive and interdisciplinary database searches, synthesizes the existing literature on the domains, types, and empirical evidence related to the use of BI interventions for environmental sustainability. The findings reveal that BI interventions show substantial promise in promoting environmentally sustainable behaviours. However, critical research gaps persist, including the role of individual attitudes and socio-demographic factors in determining the effectiveness of BI interventions, the application of experimental designs to establish causality, the interaction between BI tools and conventional policy instruments, and the measurement of the long-term persistence of BI-induced behavioural changes. An interdisciplinary approach, combined with a nuanced understanding of critical variables, can meaningfully address these gaps in the literature and fully realize the potential of behavioural insights for environmental sustainability governance.

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