Environmental Protection

Our programme of research funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses lab and field experiments to study how behavioural factors affect environmental outcomes.

A first experiment showed that standardised colour-coding of environmental information helps consumers to make more environmentally friendly choices. A second found that consumers were less likely to choose a car with high NOx emissions when the emissions were made salient by explicitly linking them to higher motor tax. A third is a lab-in-the-field experiment that tests whether the environmental understanding and habits of adolescents are influenced by attending a primary school that is active in the Green Schools scheme.

Two studies are currently underway. One is investigating whether the framing of regulatory communication can influence how much weight is placed on pollution prevention. The other is a field trial to test whether the behavioural interventions can increase households’ willingness to test for radon in high radon areas.