The Impact of Environmental Recall and Carbon Taxation on the Carbon Footprint of Supermarket Shopping

Luca Panzone, Alistair Ulph, Daniel John Zizzo, Denis Hilton, Adrian Clear

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Citations (Scopus)
136 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This study uses an incentive-compatible experimental online supermarket to assess whether prior environmentally-friendly behaviour outside the store and carbon taxes motivate sustainable consumption. Previous research suggests that past decisions may influence current decisions because consumers compensate morally desirable and undesirable acts over time, and carbon taxes have been promoted as effective tools to reduce the carbon footprint of food baskets. After controlling for past consumption, results show that being required to recall past environmentally-friendly behaviour before shopping led consumers to purchase more sustainable food baskets. Carbon taxation also strongly reduces the carbon footprint of food baskets, showing no interaction with the task of recalling past behaviours.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Environmental Economics and Management
Early online date5 Jul 2018
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 5 Jul 2018

Keywords

  • sustainable consumption
  • moral licensing
  • priming
  • carbon footprint
  • carbon tax

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