Consumer behavior and climate change: consumers need considerable assistance
John Thøgersen
Abstract
The mounting research on consumer behavior and climate change is gradually improving our understanding of effective ways to mobilize consumers to mitigate climate change. The relationship between consumer behavior and climate change is complex and most consumers are not capable of determining which behavior changes are worth doing. Research has come a long way identifying the most impactful behavior changes, but more research is needed to refine and situate these insights. The most important implication of the reviewed research is that most focus should be on making climate friendly behavior the easy behavior, in terms of securing a correct reflection of carbon footprint in prices, climate friendly products that compare favorably to unfriendly alternatives, and carbon labeling.