Consumers' Willingness to Pay a Premium for Climate‐Friendly Food Production: The Role of Production Method Information and Social Norms

ABSTRACT This study examines whether information about production methods and social norms can increase consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) a price premium for food produced using climate‐friendly farming methods. A randomized survey experiment was conducted with 1568 respondents across Denmark, Lithuania, and Spain, who were assigned to one of four experimental groups: a control group, a group receiving information on food production methods that can reduce climate impact, a group exposed to social norm messaging, and a group receiving combined interventions. Results show that while a substantial share of consumers expressed a positive WTP for climate‐friendly produced carrots and beef, the proportion declined rapidly as the premium increased. Moderate premiums were acceptable to many respondents but only about 10% were willing to pay a premium above 10%. The average WTP for carrots was 5% in the control group and increased by about 16% under the combined information and social norm intervention, indicating that the two strategies together modestly enhance premium acceptance. Very similar patterns were observed for beef. The effects of the treatments differed across demographic groups: respondents aged 41 or below were more responsive to social norms, while respondents above 41 reacted more to production method information. Overall, the findings suggest that leveraging production information with social‐norm message can modestly promote climate‐friendly produced food choices and offer useful guidance for designing tailored communication strategies.