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Nudging and Other Behaviourally Based Policies as Enablers for Environmental Sustainability

Author

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  • Marta Santos Silva

    (Research Centre for Justice and Governance (JusGov), School of Law, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal)

Abstract

Recent years have shown that traditional regulatory techniques alone are not effective in achieving behaviour change in important fields such as environmental sustainability. Governments all over the world have been progressively including behaviourally informed considerations in policy and law making with the aim of improving the acceptance and impact of sustainability-oriented measures. This led to the arrival of alternative regulatory tools, such as nudges. The effectiveness of nudges for environmental sustainability ( green nudges ) has been widely reported, but the practical and ethical implications are still largely neglected by academic research. In this contribution, “nudges” are conceptually distinguished from “boosts” and their ethics are briefly explained. The analysis is made in light of European and US American academic literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Marta Santos Silva, 2022. "Nudging and Other Behaviourally Based Policies as Enablers for Environmental Sustainability," Laws, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:11:y:2022:i:1:p:9-:d:733110
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein, 2023. "Libertarian paternalism," Chapters, in: Cass R. Sunstein & Lucia A. Reisch (ed.), Research Handbook on Nudges and Society, chapter 1, pages 10-16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Engel, Christoph & Kurschilgen, Michael, 2020. "The Fragility of a Nudge: the power of self-set norms to contain a social dilemma," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Jung, Janice Y. & Mellers, Barbara A., 2016. "American attitudes toward nudges," Judgment and Decision Making, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 62-74, January.
    4. Janice Y. Jung & Barbara A. Mellers, 2016. "American attitudes toward nudges," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 11(1), pages 62-74, January.
    5. Cass R. Sunstein, 2021. "Green defaults can combat climate change," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(5), pages 548-549, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Martin Loidl & Dana Kaziyeva & Robin Wendel & Claudia Luger-Bazinger & Matthias Seeber & Charalampos Stamatopoulos, 2023. "Unlocking the Potential of Digital, Situation-Aware Nudging for Promoting Sustainable Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Danuta Miłaszewicz, 2022. "Survey Results on Using Nudges for Choice of Green-Energy Supplier," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, April.
    3. Polaris Koi & Jukka Sivonen & Vuokko Härmä & Sakari Karvonen & Helena Siipi, 2025. "Nudge the rich! The case for targeting the top 10% in behavioural climate policy," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.

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