BRC Climate Action Week 2025 wrapped up with an insightful keynote address delivered by David Halpern CBE, President Emeritus of the Behavioural Insights Team (formerly the Government’s Nudge Unit) and Director of the Downing Battcock Institute.
Last year’s keynote by Sir Dave Lewis asked, “If the customer knew what we know, what would they want us to do on their behalf?”
This year, we sought some answers. David explored the retail industry’s role in achieving a net zero society through influencing consumer behaviour.
Why look to behavioural insights for net zero?
Reaching net zero will depend heavily on widespread consumer behaviour change...
- Significant reductions in scope 3 emissions will be crucial in achieving net zero – and it is the downstream value chain, in terms of changing consumer lifestyles, that is the most difficult side of scope 3.
- Effective public engagement on individual actions on the road to net zero is a key driver and challenge.
- 53% of emissions cuts depend on consumer adoption of low carbon technology (e.g. buying heat pumps, EVs, home insulation), and a further 9% dependent on curtailment behaviours in individual lifestyles, such as eating less meat, flying less, and producing less waste.
... But there remains a significant gap between consumer intention versus consumer action on climate.
- In practice, there is a strong ‘say-do’ gap between the more sustainable choices consumers claim they want versus the purchases they actually make.
- 88% of consumers want to make greener choices in principle, but are stopped by cost, convenience, and limited knowledge.
What were the key takeaways?
1. Shrouded markets and unclear information are key barriers to consumers to making greener choices.
- Consumers have short attention spans and little sense of which actions are most impactful – the public generally overestimate the climate impact of the less impactful actions (e.g. recycling), overlooking the most impactful actions (e.g. flying less, buying an EV, installing a heat pump).
- Unclear information on climate impacts and action exacerbates consumer confusion.
- Lack of standardisation for green claims, certifications, and labels causes a dilution effect for the confused consumer.
- Greenwashing is very effective at misleading consumers – with those most concerned about climate 2.6x more affected by greenwashing.
- Market shrouding means consumers are unable to tell the difference between good and bad companies and products.
2. Retailers can drive powerful behavioural interventions to influence consumer choices.
- The right ask is essential – basic behavioural change interventions can have a big impact by making consumer choices:
- Easy: Connected to existing behaviours
- Attractive: Related to desirable language, qualities, and actions
- Social: Visibility leads to contagion
- Timely: Disruptions in routine (e.g. moving house) are opportune times to influence behaviour shifts
- Retailers can also conduct more advanced behavioural interventions:
- Midstream interventions are proven to be effective, such as changing the choice architecture to nudge the consumer to make greener choices (e.g. plastic bag charge)
- Upstream interventions can be even more effective, which boost the consumer to make greener choices by taking the decision-point away entirely (e.g. product reformulation/redesign)
3. Ultimately, the market won’t solve the problem; regulatory and industry intervention is essential to move the consumer behaviour dial towards net zero.
- Cutting through the confusion, greenwashing, and shrouding to provide clear, accessible, standardised information will enable consumers to confidently make better and more sustainable choices.
- Businesses should involve the consumer in the decision-making too, by asking the consumer what choices they want to make.
- However, the classic market system is not effective at removing ‘bad’ companies – or even telling consumers which ones are the ‘bad’ ones.
- Collective consumer signalling is needed to de-shroud the market and help consumers, employees, investors, and other stakeholders tell the difference between good and bad companies, products and choices (e.g. through a standardised ‘green’ ranking system, a freely available version of ‘Which?’)
Catch up on other BRC Climate Action Week events
Missed out on any of our Climate Action Week webinars? Don’t worry! You can catch up on-demand on the BRC website.
Net Zero 2025 Check-in: UK Retail’s Decarbonisation Progress with BRC
Sustainable Sourcing in Retail: Member Insights and Innovations with BRC
How Internal Carbon Pricing Drives Climate Action – A Practical Guide with Anthesis
Smarter Retail HVAC Retrofits: How to Cut Costs, Carbon, and Complexity with Mitsubishi Electric
Sustainable Logistics is a Strategic Necessity with DP World
Read David Halpern’s latest publication, Inside the Nudge Unit: How Small Changes Can Make A Big Difference
