Report on nudging as a tool for sustainable behaviour

In connection with a Government commission on measures for a sustainable consumption, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency mandated the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University to conduct a research study on nudging. Nudging - a tool that can be used to promote behavior that is beneficial to individuals and to society as a whole. In order to reduce environmental and health impacts to sustainable levels, our lifestyles and consumption patterns need to change. To facilitate these changes new policy measures and instruments are needed. Consumption is controlled by habits to a large extent and society could enable sustainable choices in various ways, for example by using different forms of nudging - to gently lead people in a desirable direction.