Despite the growing interest, little is currently known as to what measures are actually effective in promoting environment-friendly behavior. Many companies are setting store by so-called “nudges” – small changes in the working environment that make sustainable behavior the easiest choice. One example is double-sided printing as a default setting. Although nudges are easy to implement, they rarely trigger a deeper engagement with environmental issues. They tend to have only a short-term effect, although the clear objective should be to bring about long-term changes in combination with motivation for more far-reaching changes in behavior. Further interventions could take the form of information campaigns, incentives, or target agreements. But it remains unclear as to when and how such approaches would actually lead to ecologically sustainable behavior.

To cast light on these matters, this Ladenburg Roundtable brings together international researchers from the fields of psychology, behavioral economics, and sustainability research with practitioners from companies and personnel departments. The focus here is on the discussion of how organizations can use strategic interventions to promote environment-friendly behavior among their employees. The Ladenburg Roundtable is therefore pursuing several goals: initiating interdisciplinary exchange on the current state of research regarding effective interventions, identifying significant gaps in research, launching appropriate research projects, and developing formats for effectively transforming scientific findings into practicable measures for organizations.