Introducing behaviour changes towards sustainable food consumption

INTRODUCING BEHAVIOUR CHANGES
Defra´s research indicates that adopting a low-impact diet is unpopular with most people, and that
reducing dairy consumption is even less popular than eating less meat; there are strong habits, values
and social norms around consuming animal products. It is easier to change people’s purchasing
habits than their diets; reducing food waste and buying more seasonal and local food is generally a
more acceptable goal than eating a low-impact diet. People are eating out more; interventions need
to address sustainable eating at restaurants as well as in the home.
How can behaviour be changed?
Consumers need more than information in order to change their behaviour – sustainable choices can
be promoted through infrastructure and pricing policies, as well as promoting social norms that make
sustainable choices normal and desirable for mainstream society.
Studying past successes in promoting sustainable behaviour (e.g. NCC and SDC 2006) shows that
green consumers on their own are rarely able to change mainstream product markets – choice editing
by regulators, retailers and manufacturers has driven the change in most cases.
Make it realistic for people to change:
• Remove barriers to sustainable behaviour: governments (and businesses) can ensure that prices
are affordable, products are easily available, and that information is simple and clear.
• Use choice-editing: the process of removing the least sustainable products from the market place,
so that consumers are left to choose from a range of more sustainable products. For example,
governments can ban damaging products or ingredients (e.g. inefficient light bulbs), or enforce
minimum standards for products (e.g. efficiency standards for washing machines); businesses can
choose to not stock the least sustainable products (e.g. fish that are listed as endangered species).
This approach ensures that the responsibility for achieving sustainable consumption is not
entirely borne by consumers.
Target groups / communities rather than individuals:
• People act, learn and change as part of their social groups rather than as individuals: changing
what is socially acceptable (e.g. by targeting workplaces, schools, etc) makes it easier for people
to adopt new behaviours.
• When acting as part of a group, people are reassured that their actions will make a difference.
• Community-based social marketing can be effective at changing behaviour, through removing
barriers to change (practical and social) and highlighting the benefits.
Target more effectively:
• Different people respond to different messengers, so a range of messengers is required e.g.
governments, businesses, charities, media.
• Using consumer segmentation models (see e.g. Defra 2008) may help with selecting appropriate
interventions for various target audiences.
• Clarify confusing issues, such as the over-focus on “food miles” (the impact of production, storage
or domestic transport may be more significant, depending on the product).
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