Involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longer
Abstract Reducing animal product consumption is a necessary action to mitigate climate change and other environmental issues. We tested and compared the effectiveness of an individual and a social app-based 30-day challenge in reducing animal product consumption. Through a pre-registered field rando...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-11-01
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| Series: | npj Climate Action |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-024-00192-4 |
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| _version_ | 1850162708370948096 |
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| author | Rosaly Severijns Igor Asanov Sandra Streukens Stephan B. Bruns Pablo Moleman Jasperina Brouwer Joey van Griethuijsen Sebastien Lizin |
| author_facet | Rosaly Severijns Igor Asanov Sandra Streukens Stephan B. Bruns Pablo Moleman Jasperina Brouwer Joey van Griethuijsen Sebastien Lizin |
| author_sort | Rosaly Severijns |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Reducing animal product consumption is a necessary action to mitigate climate change and other environmental issues. We tested and compared the effectiveness of an individual and a social app-based 30-day challenge in reducing animal product consumption. Through a pre-registered field randomized controlled trial (n = 1213), we find both conditions reduced animal product consumption by 16–17% compared to the control group, with a lasting effect only for the social treatment (encouragement to involve family and friends) 3 months after the intervention. The effects were largest for meat consumption and those who consumed meat at the baseline. Additionally, associated greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 21–24% and are still significantly reduced 3 months after both interventions, with a larger effect for the social treatment. Our findings suggest that app-based animal product-free challenges are a cost-effective way (~€13–25 per tCO2-eq assuming a 1-year lasting effect) to translate intentions into lasting dietary change, especially when involving the social environment and targeting meat eaters. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3c4e2c021e6344f2ad410b8d949f174c |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2731-9814 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Climate Action |
| spelling | doaj-art-3c4e2c021e6344f2ad410b8d949f174c2025-08-20T02:22:29ZengNature Portfolionpj Climate Action2731-98142024-11-01311910.1038/s44168-024-00192-4Involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longerRosaly Severijns0Igor Asanov1Sandra Streukens2Stephan B. Bruns3Pablo Moleman4Jasperina Brouwer5Joey van Griethuijsen6Sebastien Lizin7Environmental Economics, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Business Economics, UHasselt – Hasselt UniversityDepartment of Economics, International Center for Higher Education Research (INCHER), University of KasselDepartment Marking & Strategy, Faculty of Business Economics, UHasselt – Hasselt UniversityEnvironmental Economics, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Business Economics, UHasselt – Hasselt UniversityProVeg NederlandDepartment Educational Science, Faculty Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of GroningenProVeg NederlandEnvironmental Economics, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Business Economics, UHasselt – Hasselt UniversityAbstract Reducing animal product consumption is a necessary action to mitigate climate change and other environmental issues. We tested and compared the effectiveness of an individual and a social app-based 30-day challenge in reducing animal product consumption. Through a pre-registered field randomized controlled trial (n = 1213), we find both conditions reduced animal product consumption by 16–17% compared to the control group, with a lasting effect only for the social treatment (encouragement to involve family and friends) 3 months after the intervention. The effects were largest for meat consumption and those who consumed meat at the baseline. Additionally, associated greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 21–24% and are still significantly reduced 3 months after both interventions, with a larger effect for the social treatment. Our findings suggest that app-based animal product-free challenges are a cost-effective way (~€13–25 per tCO2-eq assuming a 1-year lasting effect) to translate intentions into lasting dietary change, especially when involving the social environment and targeting meat eaters.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-024-00192-4 |
| spellingShingle | Rosaly Severijns Igor Asanov Sandra Streukens Stephan B. Bruns Pablo Moleman Jasperina Brouwer Joey van Griethuijsen Sebastien Lizin Involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longer npj Climate Action |
| title | Involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longer |
| title_full | Involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longer |
| title_fullStr | Involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longer |
| title_short | Involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longer |
| title_sort | involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longer |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-024-00192-4 |
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