[Post-sustainability-committee] "Nudge" Your Personal and Campus Green Practices (UNEP)

[Scott Carlin]

Nairobi, 01 September 2020 - The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today launched a new publication, “The Little Book of Green Nudges”<https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/publication/little-book-green-nudges>, which aims to inspire up to 200 million students around the globe to adopt environmentally friendly habits and greener lifestyles.

PDF Link: https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/33578/LBGN.pdf

The book is UNEP’s first on behavioural science and nudge theory, which focuses on human actions and how to change them, and was drafted with The Behavioural Insights Team<https://www.bi.team/> and GRID-Arendal<https://www.grida.no/>. It contains 40 ready-made nudges - simple measures that make it easier to make green choices – which university campuses can deploy to encourage students and staff to embrace more sustainable behaviours. Nudging can be a powerful tool at universities, especially when deployed alongside strategies like decarbonizing and divesting from fossil fuels. UNEP will be sharing insights from the publication at the World Academic Summit<https://www.timeshighereducation.com/summits/worldacademic/2020?gclid=Cj0KCQjws536BRDTARIsANeUZ5-nzzVRGWuoBs_JrTGuj-To-S1U8IKwgoT1QZK4xIPJnWlsl9OdlNUaAsXaEALw_wcB> with leaders of some of the world’s top universities.

The Little Book of Green Nudges contains evidence-based guidance on implementing nudges, centered around techniques such as resetting default options, changing the framing of choices, and harnessing social influence. It also includes case studies of nudging interventions rolled out at universities from Thailand to Kenya, Finland and Colombia.

Examples of nudges recommended in the book include:
·         Food: Using appealing descriptions for plant-based dishes, for example “spicy chickpea curry”. A study<https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.1637> in a university cafeteria found that describing vegetables in indulgent terms resulted in 25 per cent more diners choosing them.
·         Recycling: Making recycling bins eye-catching and easy to use. One study<https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916508323737> found that bins with specialized lids increased the recycling rate for beverage containers by 34 per cent.
·         Waste: In cafeterias, offering smaller plates and no trays, to discourage food waste. A study<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2012.07.004>conducted in a university dining hall found that going trayless led to a significant decrease in solid waste.
·         Transport: Encouraging cycling by making it easier to park bicycles, while at the same time making it more of a hassle to park cars, for instance by requiring people to frequently reapply for car parking permits.
·         Sharing: Setting up a system to share leftover food from meetings or events. A group of students at one university set up a food-sharing group that has prevented more than 7,000 kg of food from going to waste.

UNEP is collaborating with higher education institutions around the world to pilot nudging on campuses. Already 20 universities have joined the programme – including the University of Chile, the University of Nairobi, the University of Tsukuba in Japan and the University of California at Berkeley – many more are set to join up in the months ahead.

“Universities are the source of so much knowledge that students will continue to utilise throughout their lives – instilling sustainable habits and values should be a key part of this education, with the potential to shift to cleaner, greener societal behaviours,” UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said. “Changing behaviour is critical if we are to stay within our planetary boundaries. We invite higher education institutions across the world to join us in employing nudges on their campuses.”

David Halpern, Chief Executive of The Behavioural Insights Team, said: “Behavioural science research has shown how effective major life events such as starting university are for establishing new routines and habits which can often last a lifetime. It’s been really exciting to work with UNEP and GRID-Arendal on creating this series of easily achievable but powerful behaviour change ideas that will help students and their places of learning deliver major changes to their environmental and sustainability impacts both now and far into the future.”

“At Yale we have seen first-hand how powerful nudges can be. As highlighted in our case study, we were able to improve our recycling rates through some simple measures. We are sure that The Little Book of Green Nudges will be useful to universities all across the world who are looking for creative ways to enhance sustainability on their campuses,” said Lindsay Crum, Senior Manager, Data Analysis & Program Management at Yale University, which is one of the pilot universities.

With COVID-19 forcing a major rethink in higher education, redesigning processes and routines to make their campuses safer, this is a strategic time to make them more sustainable too by incorporating green nudges in their schools. Nudges have been shown to be particularly successful when they are introduced at timely moments of change.

Adopting green nudges could also make universities more desirable to prospective students who are looking to attend institutions that share their values. A recent survey<https://nusdigital.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/document/documents/50229/7c736d65da810a6c9e39df10c9a0e455/20191004_NUS_Sustainability_Skills_2018-19_FINAL.pdf> found that 86 per cent of first-year students in the UK want their higher education institutions to actively incorporate and promote sustainable development.

GRID-Arendal Managing Director Peter Harris said: “Nudges are an important tool in our toolbox to help us cut carbon emissions, curb waste and encourage adoption of more sustainable diets and modes of travel. Seemingly small shifts can have dramatic impacts.”

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