Do mobile applications foster sustainable mobility? Evidence from a field experiment

Mobile applications hold promise to foster sustainable mobility behavior, but evaluations of their effectiveness are subject to a number of empirical challenges. We conduct a randomized controlled trial with three distinctive features: unobtrusive tracking of the control group, limited sample attrition, and a representative sample. In our study, 410 participants track their mobility behavior over a 5 week period. After 1 week, the treatment group engages with the user interface of the "Swiss Climate Challenge App". The user interface combines information on individual <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mtext>CO</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub> </mml:math> emissions with gamification features. We find a treatment effect that implies a <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mn>9.8</mml:mn> <mml:mo>%</mml:mo></mml:mrow> </mml:math> reduction in emissions caused by access to the mobile application. While we lack the statistical power to exclude a zero average effect, we find statistically significant emission reductions in the second half of the intervention period, among subjects in medium population density areas, and among men. Our findings suggest that mobile applications could generate considerable net benefits, but larger studies will be needed for validation.