Recurrent Carbon Labels Induce Bipartisan Effects in Environmental Choices Under Risk

Addressing climate change requires substantial shifts in individual behavior. Providing infor-mation about carbon externalities through carbon labels is a promising tool to foster sustainablechoices when individuals weigh environmental against personal outcomes. We study the impactof carbon labels over time in a repeated decisions task under risk, focusing on different popu-lation segments. We ran two preregistered experiments (US samples, N = 1268) with realizedcarbon and monetary payoffs, examining how choice is influenced by the timing of carboninformation (One-off vs. Recurring) and participants’ political preference (i.e., Democrat orRepublican voters). In Study 1, we find that both Democrats and Republicans reduce carbonemissions when carbon labels were provided. Further, recurring labels significantly reducedcarbon choices compared to one-off labels. Study 2 replicated the results in a within-participantdesign and showed that the impact of recurring carbon labels on sustainable choices cannot beexplained by the strength of emission recall. This suggests that recurring labels amplify theimportance given to the climate attribute in the decision process, beyond their informationalvalue. Our results emphasize the importance of providing climate externality information attime of use to raise awareness about climate costs and bolster sustainable preferences acrosspopulation segments.