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- Dátumkészítés 2026.04.24.
- Utoljára frissített 2026.04.27.
Behavioural insights into consumer demand for sustainable food
This report brings together evidence from seven empirical studies examining how adjustments to food environments can encourage more sustainable food consumption. Food systems are key contributors to environmental degradation, driving habitat loss, water pollution, biodiversity decline, and climate change (Crippa et al., 2021). In response, the European Union’s Farm to Fork Strategy seeks to reduce the environmental and climate footprint of the food system by promoting changes across the value chain, from production to consumption (European Commission, 2020). Within this transformation, the retail sector occupies a strategic position, as it shapes product availability, marketing activities, and purchasing contexts, and is therefore explicitly targeted in the Strategy’s call for changes in food distribution and promotion practices.
The seven studies synthesised in this report evaluate a broad set of interventions, mostly within the operational scope of private food retailers, including choice architecture measures, pricing strategies, climate labels, and other point-of-purchase tools. Collectively, they address two overarching objectives central to the transition toward more sustainable food systems:
• Reducing the climate impact of food consumption through supermarket-based interventions (Studies 1–5)
• Promoting consumption of locally produced food through short supply chains (Studies 6 & 7)
Studies 1 and 2 analysed how supermarket interventions influence the climate impact of entire food baskets, drawing on cross-country survey experiments. Study 3 focused on consumer substitution between meat and legumes under different pricing scenarios using survey-based experiments conducted in Denmark. Studies 4 and 5 tested in-store promotional strategies designed to increase legume purchases through field experiments in operational supermarkets in Spain and Denmark. Study 6 evaluated the effectiveness of different promotional messages in attracting customers to a farm shop in England, while Study 7 explored consumer perceptions, emotional responses, and shopping behaviours related to farmers markets in Romania, with an emphasis on locally produced food.
Taken together, the findings of the seven studies demonstrate that behavioural interventions in food retail environments can steer consumer purchasing toward more sustainable options. However, their individual effects are typically modest. The evidence strongly suggests that integrated intervention packages – particularly those combining pricing measures, climate labelling, and strategic product placement – are substantially more effective than isolated actions. Meaningful reductions in the climate impact of food consumption therefore require structural changes to food environments rather than reliance on voluntary or informational measures alone.
Many of the effective interventions identified fall within the operational scope of private food retailers, positioning them as important facilitators of change. At the same time, this reliance on retailer action poses limitations from a policy perspective. While retailers can play a key enabling role, they are unlikely to serve as the primary drivers of systemic change. Public policy instruments – such as regulation, fiscal incentives, and mandatory information requirements – are likely necessary to align retail practices more closely with broader sustainability objectives.
The full report will be available soon.
