The project NormTransform, funded by the Climate Programme (ACRP) of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), seeks to quantify emission reduction potentials and the impacts of reduced meat consumption (measured in kg/CO2) in Austria, induced through advertisement campaigns. 

Despite decreasing emissions in the agricultural sector in Austria, agri-food systems are transforming far too slowly to support the EU's progress towards climate neutrality. Austria is one of the top meat-eating countries of the world. Its per capita meat consumption decreased slightly (from 99.2 kg in 2012 to 88.2 kg in 2022), but the values are still far above the EU average.

The project aims to contribute to the transformation of the agri-food system by doing research on advertisements and their impact on consumer’s choices. Advertisements can jointly address the supply- and demand side and be quickly implemented to accelerate transformation processes towards carbon neutrality. The effectiveness of advertising in inducing consumer behaviour is highly effective, as studies have shown, making them a relevant player in the field of consumption changes.

Advertisements can be a potential social tipping intervention to transform norms based on

• their visibility in media,
• their role in mirroring trends in society,
• their function to induce a (consumption) behaviour.

In gaining more insight into how advertisements as a social tipping intervention can potentially shape and mirror norms and subsequently climate-relevant behaviours, the project hopes to support climate policy in Austria and the European Union and aims to provide evidence about the transformative potential of advertisements. 

The findings are relevant for the realignment of agri-food systems with the climate neutrality goal. Acting as a blueprint, the Austrian results should allow for conclusions on a broader scale, e.g. on the European level.  The project’s results can assist institutional actors to design and orient behavioural interventions through advertisement, with a clear idea of the impact measured in kg/CO2 equivalents, and other relevant ecological indicators.

The research design of NormTransform combines warm data labs, behavioural experiments, and agent-based modelling as tools to improve the understanding of the emergent macro-level structural transformation of norm and value systems based on micro-level behavioural change. 

Ecologic Institute is responsible for project communication and knowledge dissemination. We have extensive expertise in European climate governance, a team working on food system transformation, a wide network of stakeholders in the EU policy sphere and academic circles around climate policy. Policy briefs will make the research more accessible to non-academic audiences.