When less is more – Effects of providing simple vs. refined action-knowledge interventions to promote climate-friendly food consumption in German consumers

Abstract

A crucial challenge in global climate protection involves figuring out how to promote climate-friendly (CF) food consumption in high-income countries. Improving consumers’ ability to identify CF food is a promising way to reach this goal. Previous research has shown that providing action-knowledge is an intervention technique that can effectively improve the mentioned ability if relevant preconditions are considered. The present study (further) examined such preconditions and possible refinements of this intervention technique in a representative sample of German consumers (N = 510). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups (EG1 received simple guidelines for CF food consumption; EG2 received refined guidelines for CF food consumption) or a control group (CG) without any intervention. Altogether, the present study clearly demonstrates that simple guideline-provision is a promising and easy-to-use tool for interventions aimed at improving consumers’ ability to identify CF food in daily life.