Nudging strategies for pro-environmental behavior

Abstract: In recent years, “nudge” has been increasingly applied to coping with climate change and environmental problems, and has become an effective strategy to promote individual’s pro-environmental behavior. However, in China there is a lack of research and practice on pro-environmental behavior intervention based on the idea of nudge. The reason why pro-environmental behavior needs to be nudged is that individual’s decision-making regarding pro-environmental behavior involves cognitive limitations and insufficient motivations. Seven nudging strategies for promoting pro-environmental behavior were summarized from the perspectives of cognition and motivation. The cognition-oriented strategies included the default options, the framing effect, and the descriptive norms; and the motivation-oriented strategies included priming national interest motivation, legacy motivation, benefit motivation, and autonomous motivation. Disputes with regard to the nudging strategies and feasible suggestions for ecological and environmental management were discussed.