Overcoming the Intention-Action Gap in Sustainable Consumption

Most of us would like to consider ourselves environmentally-conscious consumers. We plan to bring our reusable bags to the grocery store, use refillable water bottles, and avoid single-use plastics. 

But then you find yourself standing in an aisle, trying to pick a detergent. You turn over one bottle, with a green leaf sticker, and it says “Free of phosphates,” and you wonder what exactly phosphates are. As you consider this claim, you see the price: $25 for a pack of 20 pods. Next to it, you see generic pods—a brand you’re familiar with—for only $20. You care about the planet, but you’re unsure what makes one choice more sustainable than another, and you're naturally drawn to the cheaper option.

Multiply that decision-making pattern by billions of consumers, and it becomes clear that there is a gap between our intentions and our actions. Simply being aware that we need to make more sustainable choices doesn’t guarantee that we will. When the sustainable choice feels harder, more expensive, and less rewarding, we tend not to change our behavior. 

Behavioral science offers a way forward. By understanding the cognitive shortcuts that guide decision-making—like present bias, status quo bias, and choice overload—we can design interventions that make the sustainable choice the easy, default one. The challenge isn’t convincing consumers to care; it’s helping them act on the care they already feel.