Comparing the impact of positive, negative, and graded sustainability labels on purchase decisions - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

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General Information

Project description

An online experiment with EU consumers was run to assess the relative effectiveness of three sustainability labelling approaches: (1) positive labels - only identifying products with the best sustainability performance, (2) negative labels - only identifying products with the worst sustainability performance, and (3) graded labels - conveying the relative sustainability of all products. Results suggest that graded labels are the most effective to steer consumer toward more sustainable purchase decisions.

Detailed information

Final report: Is there a final report presenting the results and conclusions of this project?

Yes

Final report

See the final report

Czech Republic

Prague

Who is behind the project?

Institution: European Commission

Team: JRC Competence Centre on Behavioural Insights

Project status:

Completed

Methods

Methodology: Experiment, Online Experiment

Could you self-grade the strength of the evidence generated by this study?: 7

What is the project about?

Policy area(s): Consumer policy, Sustainable Consumption

Topic(s): Consumption- Purchase behaviour, Decision-making

Date published:

17 January 2022

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