Behavioral economics of climate action

Behavioral economics plays a key role in explaining the lack of current climate action and in facilitating effective future interventions. For instance, it can help us evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of policy instruments and institutions, understand the effectiveness of “hard” and “soft” interventions, and estimate pro-environmental preferences. In this editorial, we provide examples for some of the contributions of behavioral economics to the study of climate action and review the eight studies published in this collection. These studies introduce “social tipping points”, study related aspects of international organizations, explore the relationship between pro-environmental behaviors and individual well-being, investigate the effect of “Veggie Days” on emissions in German university cafeterias, test whether an intervention can increase the adoption of certified solar devices for refugees in Uganda, conduct a systematic review and a meta-analysis of public support for carbon pricing policies, examine arguments for and against the use of pricing instruments to mitigate emissions, and analyze social media communications of three groups of stakeholders.