The persistence of default effects: Evidence from CO2 offsetting in cargo transportation

Research has shown that default settings can substantially influence pro-environmental behavior. While prior studies have largely focused on individual, one-time decisions in private households, little is known about the persistence of such effects in professional contexts. This paper examines how default settings affect business procurement decisions in cargo transportation and how these effects evolve over time. We analyze field data from more than 200,000 transportation bookings over a 15-month period on an online platform where customers could choose to offset their CO2-emissions. The platform changed its default option from opt-in to opt-out for CO2 offsetting. Following this change, offsetting rates increased sharply from about 12 % to about 85 % of all bookings. After roughly 12 weeks, the effect stabilized at around 50 % and remained steady thereafter. Additional analyses show that CO2 offsetting was not related to the sender’s regional environmental consciousness, local emission levels, or inattentive purchasing behavior (e.g., nighttime bookings), but was instead associated with the perceived pro-environmental orientation of recipients. Moreover, the default change did not reduce the cargo firm’s revenues. These findings indicate that implementing opt-out defaults can effectively foster lasting behavioral change even among professional decision-makers.