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Part of the rationale behind the introduction of the term cisgenesis was the expectation that due to the “more natural” character of the genetic modification, cisgenic plants would be socially more acceptable than transgenic ones. This... more
Part of the rationale behind the introduction of the term cisgenesis was the expectation that due to the “more natural” character of the genetic modification, cisgenic plants would be socially more acceptable than transgenic ones. This chapter assesses whether this expectation was justified. It thereby addresses three arenas of social acceptability: public perception, consumer preferences, and legal regulation. Discussing and comparing recent studies from four geographical areas across the globe—Europe, North America, Japan, and Australia and New Zealand—the chapter shows that the expectation was justified, and that cisgenic plants are treated as being more acceptable than other forms of genetic modification. Yet, there are considerable differences across the three arenas of social acceptability. In Australia, Canada, and the United States of America, the legal regulation of cisgenic plants is less restrictive than in Europe, Japan, and New Zealand. Also, the public perceptions are ...
The impacts of global climate change on international security and geopolitics could be of historic proportion, challenging those of previous global threats such as nuclear weapons proliferation, the Great Depression, and terrorism. But... more
The impacts of global climate change on international security and geopolitics could be of historic proportion, challenging those of previous global threats such as nuclear weapons proliferation, the Great Depression, and terrorism. But while the evidence surrounding the security impacts of climate change is fairly well-understood and improving, less is known about the security risks to climate-technology deployment. In this study, we focus on the geopolitical, security, and military risks facing negative emissions and solar geoengineering options. Although controversial, these options could become the future backbone of a low-carbon or net-zero society, given that they avoid the need for coordinated or global action (and can be deployed by a smaller group of actors, even non-state actors), and that they can "buy time" for mitigation and other options to be scaled up. We utilize a large and diverse expert-interview exercise (N = 125) to critically examine the security risks associated with ten negative emission options (or greenhouse gas removal technologies) and ten solar geoengineering options (or solar radiation management technologies). We ask: What geopolitical considerations does deployment give rise to? What particular military applications exist? What risks do these options entail in terms of weaponization, misuse, and miscalculation? We examine such existing and prospective security risks across a novel conceptual framework envisioning their use as (i) diplomatic or military negotiating tools, (ii) objectives for building capacity, control, or deterrence, (iii) targets in ongoing conflicts, and (iv) causes of new conflicts. This enables us to capture a far broader spectrum of security concerns than those which exist in the extant literature and to go well beyond insights derived from climate modelling or game theory by drawing on a novel, rich, and original dataset of expert perceptions.
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This article discusses and illuminates the synergies and jeopardies or tradeoffs that exist between the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and net-zero or future climate protection options such as greenhouse gas removal (GGR)... more
This article discusses and illuminates the synergies and jeopardies or tradeoffs that exist between the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and net-zero or future climate protection options such as greenhouse gas removal (GGR) technologies and solar radiation management (SRM) deployment approaches, respectively. Through a large-scale expert-interview exercise (N = 125), the study finds firstly that numerous synergies and tradeoffs exist between GGR, SRM, and the SDGs. More specifically, we reveal that GGR deployment could enhance the attainment of 16 of the 17 SDGs, but this comes with possible tradeoffs with 12 of the SDGs. SRM deployment could not only enhance the attainment of 16 of the 17 SDGs, but also create possible tradeoffs with (a different) 12 SDGs. The findings further support the understanding of the complexity of SRM and GGR proposals and help policymakers and industrial pioneers understand, navigate, and benchmark between geoengineering approaches using sustainabl...
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Growing appreciation of the novel challenges of climate change and environmental degradation is among the core drivers of the ongoing transformation in the food industry. In response to the growing costs for society and the environment,... more
Growing appreciation of the novel challenges of climate change and environmental degradation is among the core drivers of the ongoing transformation in the food industry. In response to the growing costs for society and the environment, the broad reliance on large-scale and industrial methods of food production is called into question. Innovative solutions and approaches are thus required, both to resolve distrust among consumers and facilitate the necessary transition towards more sustainable societies. Hence, this dissertation engages with a number of questions related to transformation in the food industry, highlighting the particular relevance of consumer behavior. Each of the four principal chapters represents a specific application of insights and knowledge gained using an individual-level perspective in order to resolve a number of shortcomings with the transitions literature. In this respect, the dissertation as a whole can be seen to inform the dialogue of what is required ...
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Negative emissions technologies and solar radiation management techniques could contribute towards climate stability, either by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it permanently or reflecting sunlight away from the... more
Negative emissions technologies and solar radiation management techniques could contribute towards climate stability, either by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it permanently or reflecting sunlight away from the atmosphere. Despite concerns about them, such options are increasingly being discussed as crucial complements to traditional climate change mitigation and adaptation. Expectations around negative emissions and solar radiation management and their associated risks and costs shape public and private discussions of how society deals with the climate crisis. In this study, we rely on a large expert survey (N = 74) to critically examine the future potential of both negative emission options (e.g., carbon dioxide removal) and solar radiation management techniques. We designed a survey process that asked a pool of prominent experts questions about (i) the necessity of adopting negative emissions or solar radiation management options, (ii) the desirability o...
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In global climate governance, anticipatory assessments map future options and pathways, in light of prospective risks and uncertainties, to inform present-day planning. Using data from 125 interviews, we ask: How are foundational experts... more
In global climate governance, anticipatory assessments map future options and pathways, in light of prospective risks and uncertainties, to inform present-day planning. Using data from 125 interviews, we ask: How are foundational experts contesting the conduct of anticipatory assessment of carbon removal and solar geoengineeringas two emerging but controversial strategies for engaging with climate change and achieving Net Zero targets? We find that efforts at carbon removal and solar geoengineering assessment leverage and challenge systems modeling that has become dominant in mapping and communicating future climate impacts and mitigation strategies via IPCC reports. Both suites of climate intervention have become stress-tests for the capacity of modeling to assess socio-technical strategies with complex, systemic dimensions. Meanwhile, exploring societal dimensions demands new modes of disciplinary expertise, qualitative and deliberative practices, and stakeholder inclusion that modelling processes struggle to incorporate. Finally, we discuss how the patterns of expert contestation identified in our results speak to multiple fault-lines within ongoing debates on reforming global environmental assessments, and highlights key open questions to be addressed.
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In this study, we utilize a large and diverse expert interview exercise (N = 125) to critically examine the whole systems justice issues associated with ten negative emissions and ten solar geoengineering technologies. We ask: What equity... more
In this study, we utilize a large and diverse expert interview exercise (N = 125) to critically examine the whole systems justice issues associated with ten negative emissions and ten solar geoengineering technologies. We ask: What equity and justice concerns arise with these 20 options? What particular vulnerable groups could be affected? What risks do these options entail for communities or the climate? Utilizing a "claims making" approach, we examine existing and prospective injustices across a pluralistic whole systems framework analyzing (i) resource extraction issues including minerals, chemicals, and fertilizers (ii) manufacturing, labor and ownership concerns, (iii) transportation-network and land-grabbing dynamics, (iv) unfair and exclusionary policymaking and planning, (v) operational injustices resulting from deployment and use, and (vi) waste flows, liabilities and disposal requirements. We then explore how these potential concerns culminate in a milieu of injustice cutting across the dimensions of distribution (who gets what), recognition (who counts), participation (who gets heard), capabilities (what matters), and responsibility (who does what). We conclude with insights for both policy and future research.
Research Interests: Human Geography, Climate Change, Political Science, Economic Justice, Environmental Justice, and 11 morePolitical Geography, Ethics of Geoengineering, Climate Justice, Carbon dioxide removal, Geoengineering, Public Policy and Administration, Injustice, Geoenvironmental Engineering, Public Administration and Policy, Equity Law, and negative emissions technologies
Carbon removalalso known as negative emissions technologies, or greenhouse gas removalrepresents a core pillar of post-Paris climate policy, signaling for enhancing and constructing carbon sinks to balance emissions sources on route to... more
Carbon removalalso known as negative emissions technologies, or greenhouse gas removalrepresents a core pillar of post-Paris climate policy, signaling for enhancing and constructing carbon sinks to balance emissions sources on route to ambitious temperature targets. We build on Amory Lovins' "hard" and "soft" alternatives for energy pathways to illuminate how foundational experts, technologists, and policy entrepreneurs think about different modes of resource inputs, infrastructure and livelihoods, and decision-making, regarding ten naturebased and engineered carbon removal approaches. Based on 90 original interviews, we show that hard and soft paths reflect different conceptions of systems, spaces, and societal involvement. We highlight that pathways depend on diverging concepts of economies-of-scale (capturing carbon at the largest possible scale, versus catalyzing systemic co-benefits) and carbon management (a waste product within conventional climate governance, versus diverse end-uses and values to be diversely governed). Our analysis further emphasizes two key uncertainties: whether renewables can be upscaled to allow synergies rather than tradeoffs between carbon removal and more widespread energy demands, and whether carbon certification can expand spatially to navigate long supply chains, and conceptually to incentivize diverse co-benefits. Experts remain motivated by antecedent concerns over land-use management and extractive industries, and that exploitative systems willwithout guardrailsbe replicated by inertia.
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Direct Air Capture with Carbon Storage (DACCS) technologies represent one of the most significant potential tools for tackling climate change by making net-zero and net-negative emissions achievable, as deemed necessary in reports from... more
Direct Air Capture with Carbon Storage (DACCS) technologies represent one of the most significant potential tools for tackling climate change by making net-zero and net-negative emissions achievable, as deemed necessary in reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the European Green Deal. We draw from a novel and original dataset of expert interviews (N = 125) to distil ten recommendations for future DACCS policy. After providing a literature review on DACCS and explaining our methods of data collection, we present these recommendations as follows: (a) follow governance principles that ensure ‘negative’ emissions; (b) prioritize long-term carbon storage; (c) appreciate and incentivize scale; (d) co-develop with capture, transport, and storage; (e) phase in a carbon price; (f) couple with renewables; (g) harness hub deployment; (h) maintain separate targets; (i) embrace certification and compliance; and (j) recognize social acceptance. All ten recommendations are...
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Cultivated or in-vitro meat is attracting attention for its potential to improve animal welfare, reduce environmental impact and offer health benefits to consumers and society. As a result, such products may also be of interest to... more
Cultivated or in-vitro meat is attracting attention for its potential to improve animal welfare, reduce environmental impact and offer health benefits to consumers and society. As a result, such products may also be of interest to vegetarians, in addition to meat eaters, even though they have tended to be dismissed as a potential target group. However, such a general assessment ignores the fact that vegetarians can differ greatly in their type of diet (e.g. vegan, lacto-ovo, pescatarian), the motives which drive their eating habits, and with regard to how long they have done so. All of these factors could in turn influence whether vegetarians might be interested in cultivated meat. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the factors that influence acceptance of cultivated meat among vegetarians. Based on a survey of German vegetarians, we find that animal welfare is rated as the highest motive for why cultivated meat would be acceptable, followed by health and safety. Environm...
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The establishment of bioeconomic value chains has implications for companies, regions, jobs and consumers. The most important factors on which the successful transformation into a sustainable bioeconomy will depend are raw material... more
The establishment of bioeconomic value chains has implications for companies, regions, jobs and consumers. The most important factors on which the successful transformation into a sustainable bioeconomy will depend are raw material supply, technological progress, production costs, ecological sustainability, and social acceptance. The transition from the fossil-based economy to the bioeconomy will take decades, especially since, at this point in time, most bio-based value chains remain in competition with their fossil-based counterparts. It must be borne in mind, however, that not all areas currently dominated by the fossil-based economy will be replaced by bio-based processes. In the energy industry, for example, non-bio-based processes must also pursue a greater degree of sustainability, for example, through the use of wind, water, and solar energy. The transition to more bio-based forms of economy must therefore be oriented towards three specific dimensions of sustainability, which together take into account the potential for increasing competition of numerous economic sectors for scarce biomass resources. This results in fundamental conflicts of objectives that must inevitably be resolved if the transition is to succeed. The two most important general prerequisites for a successful transition to future bio-economies are therefore contingent on solutions of this nature being attained. After all, new innovations, whether products or process technologies, must be competitive if they are to attain a foothold in the market. This means that innovations in both the business-to-business area (B2B) and the business-to-customer area (B2C) also require the active involvement of customers.
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Over the past two centuries, the unprecedented expansion of consumer spending across advanced economies has been an essential driver of long run-economic growth, innovation, and prosperity. So essential in fact, that increases in consumer... more
Over the past two centuries, the unprecedented expansion of consumer spending across advanced economies has been an essential driver of long run-economic growth, innovation, and prosperity. So essential in fact, that increases in consumer purchasing power are also frequently mentioned as a main reason for why long-run economic growth is inherently desirable: more growth offers consumers greater opportunity to better satisfy their needs and wants. At the same time, the underlying problems that consumers seek to satisfy are also fundamentally changing: as the overall share of spending dedicated to the satisfaction of basic needs has declined, more spending is inevitably dedicated to complex activities and domains in which consumers can exercise a higher degree of discretionary power. In these new domains, the information and social environment play a much greater role in shaping the orientation of consumer spending. These long run trends raise new questions, such as: Will levels of consumer spending continue to grow as they have recently? Can we expect consumer welfare to benefit from future consumption growth the same way that it has in the past? This considers the long-run evolution of consumption patterns alongside the social, behavioural, and technological forces that have shaped, and indeed motivated them. In doing so, this collection of chapters contributes to a better understanding of the structural changes to consumer demand that are currently taking place in advanced economies and their implications for how we understand and strive for economic growth and consumer welfare amidst.
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Der Ubergang von der fossilbasierten Wirtschaft zur Biookonomie wird viele Jahrzehnte dauern. In diesem Zeitraum stehen die meisten biobasierten Produkte im Wettbewerb mit fossil basierten und mussen kostenseitig mit diesen konkurrieren.... more
Der Ubergang von der fossilbasierten Wirtschaft zur Biookonomie wird viele Jahrzehnte dauern. In diesem Zeitraum stehen die meisten biobasierten Produkte im Wettbewerb mit fossil basierten und mussen kostenseitig mit diesen konkurrieren. Anders als die Olforderung ist die Produktion von Biomasse aber jahreszeitlich begrenzt und auf sehr grose Flachen verteilt. Das macht eine kostspielige Logistik erforderlich. Auserdem kann die heutige Landwirtschaft nur einen Teil des biookonomischen Rohstoffbedarfs decken. Aber nicht nur preislich mussen biookonomische Produkte die Markte uberzeugen. Auch als Innovationen, die in nachhaltige Stoff- und Energiekreislaufe eingebunden sind, mussen sie Akzeptanz finden. Dieses Kapitel stellt innovationstheoretisch und in zahlreichen praktischen Beispielen die Wettbewerbsfahigkeit und die Kundenakzeptanz als die beiden zentralen Erfolgskriterien einer zukunftigen Biookonomie vor.
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PurposeThis study jointly examines consumer attitudes towards gene-edited (GE) food and their preferences for labelling such products. Thus, it contributes to understanding the role of educational background, objective/subjective... more
PurposeThis study jointly examines consumer attitudes towards gene-edited (GE) food and their preferences for labelling such products. Thus, it contributes to understanding the role of educational background, objective/subjective knowledge, environmental concern and socio-demographics in the context of GE food.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was administered to two generations of young individuals (millennials and Generation Z; n = 234) from two neighbouring European Union (EU) regions (Belgium and The Netherlands), which have a stringent policy on (labelling) genetically modified (GM) food. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and ordered logit models (OLMs) were employed to identify key determinants of attitudes towards GE food and GE labelling preferences, respectively.FindingsAttitudes towards GE food were determined by environmental concern (negative) and objective knowledge (positive). Key factors influencing preferences for GE labelling were a non-hard-scientific backgrou...
Research Interests: Marketing, Psychology, European Union, Multidisciplinary, Information, and 14 moreConsumer, Millennials, Cognitive Biases, Perceptions, Crops, Attitude, Acceptance, Valuation, Generation Z, Genetically modified food, Willingness to Pay, British history of food, Labelling, and Genetically Modified Rice
Abstract This study investigates the impact of initial perceived barriers and motives on consumers’ willingness to eat cultured meat as a substitute for conventional meat using data collected in December 2013, shortly after the... more
Abstract This study investigates the impact of initial perceived barriers and motives on consumers’ willingness to eat cultured meat as a substitute for conventional meat using data collected in December 2013, shortly after the introduction of the first cultured beef burger to the public. The findings are based on a novel analysis of cross-sectional data from a representative consumer sample (n=398) from Flanders (Belgium). Improved animal welfare emerged as the strongest motive for considering whether to eat cultured meat, whereas cultured meat's perceived unnaturalness emerged as the strongest barrier. A binary logistic regression model was specified and estimated for explaining the determinants of willingness to eat cultured meat while simultaneously accounting for the effects of gender, age, vegetarianism and the terminology used. Based on the logistic regression estimates, simulations of the probability to eat cultured meat are provided for different profiles of consumers and depending on their strength of motives and perceived barriers. The use of ‘cultured’, ‘in-vitro’ or ‘synthetic’ when framing cultured meat did not significantly affect willingness to eat in the full model. Meanwhile, the likelihood of being willing to eat cultured meat was eight times larger among males compared to females; decreased by 50% per increase of 10 years in age; and was 14 times higher among non-vegetarians compared to vegetarians. A one-unit increase of the strength of motives and perceived barriers yielded, respectively, a 16-fold increase versus a 33-fold decrease of likelihood of acceptance. Perceived barriers herewith emerged as being twice as powerful in shaping consumers’ willingness to eat cultured meat as compared to motives.
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Abstract Fast-moving developments for cultivated meat make it crucial to wrestle with prospective challenges and thereby lay the groundwork for a viable commercial market. Despite ample attention to issues of naming and regulation, the... more
Abstract Fast-moving developments for cultivated meat make it crucial to wrestle with prospective challenges and thereby lay the groundwork for a viable commercial market. Despite ample attention to issues of naming and regulation, the effect of information provision on consumer attitudes and evaluations has received less interest, even as claims (positive and negative) about cultivated meat increase in scope and complexity. Accordingly, we employed a 2x2 experimental design with information treatments varying by valence and complexity to explore if information provision influenced purchasing evaluations by way of attitudes. Using a sample of 617 German consumers, we found that whether information accentuated the risks or benefits of cultivated meat had a fundamental impact on explicit attitudes and purchasing evaluations, but not implicit attitudes. The role of complexity was however more nuanced, with an impact only on explicit attitudes and when risks were accentuated. Moreover, using mediation analysis, we revealed that implicit and explicit attitudes serially mediated the relationship between information provision and purchasing evaluations, thereby affecting the overall effectiveness of information. In sum, the findings underscore the importance of implicit and explicit attitudes (as well as food technology neophobia and prior knowledge) for evaluation processes of consumers, along with how disentangling the respective effects of valence and complexity of information enables the development of more effective and tailored messaging approaches.
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Abstract Systems thinking (ST) represents an important cognitive paradigm for the transition towards a circular bio-economy, as greater awareness of the environmental impact of fossil-based products may lead to a switch to sustainable... more
Abstract Systems thinking (ST) represents an important cognitive paradigm for the transition towards a circular bio-economy, as greater awareness of the environmental impact of fossil-based products may lead to a switch to sustainable alternatives produced from secondary biomass which is not used as feed or food. However, the relationship between ST and the adoption of bio-based products, as well as the general mechanism of how ST affects environmental behavior, is not yet well-understood. The present study therefore aims to close these research gaps by conducting a survey-based experiment with a ST-motivated treatment, in which participants are asked to list as many consequences of their consumption behavior as possible (N=446 US consumers). Our findings suggest that the treatment is able to slightly activate a ST perspective, along with indirectly affecting consumer intentions to buy bio-based products by means of ST. Subsequent mediation analyses further reveal that an ecological worldview as well as variables from the norm-activation model function as mediators of the relationship between ST and purchase intention.
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Abstract Sustainability research benefits from having an interdisciplinary orientation, as understanding and developing solutions to the grand challenges we confront is not the domain of any one discipline. Even though often falling short... more
Abstract Sustainability research benefits from having an interdisciplinary orientation, as understanding and developing solutions to the grand challenges we confront is not the domain of any one discipline. Even though often falling short in practice, this ideal has undergirded the efforts of sustainability research, and promoted the increasing recognition of the relevance and unique insights that social science has to offer. Pointing to a significant imbalance in funding allocation between the natural and social sciences, Overland and Sovacool, in this Journal, recently challenge the notion that these two represent increasingly equal partners for sustainability research. Although we applaud and are in fundamental agreement with their arguments, we contend that framing of respect and recognition in terms of funding alone may be misleading, and can replicate and reproduce the exact imbalances that it seeks to redress. This Perspective aims to complement the insights of Overland and Sovacool by making an examination of the kinds of organizational and institutional factors preventing a fuller integration of social sciences within sustainability research. Writing from the perspective of social scientists involved in interdisciplinary research projects, this more bottom-up perspective sheds light on: the ongoing imbalance between the social and natural sciences, how and why the status quo is reproduced for structural and cultural reasons, and how transformation along the two dimensions can be achieved. The resulting solutions are relevant for not only other social scientists, but all concerned with developing robust and constructive answers to societally pressing questions.
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International climate accords like the Paris agreement set the broad agenda for climate action. To realize their potential however, it is vital to ‘get the context right’ so that environmentally significant behaviors can be repeated over... more
International climate accords like the Paris agreement set the broad agenda for climate action. To realize their potential however, it is vital to ‘get the context right’ so that environmentally significant behaviors can be repeated over time. This paper reviews the extant interdisciplinary literature to outline how a richer understanding of the interrelationships between individual and contextual factors is required to cultivate behavioral change. In this manner, 18 distinct behavioral determinants are identified. We argue that the likelihood of behavioral change and overall environmental impact are thereby reliant on the complex interaction between individual behavior and the multiple distinct layers of context that frame its expression. Our behavior-informed approach thus helps to explain processes of behavioral change more fully, establish the types of obstacles that exist, and delineate a fuller and more substantial role for individual-driven behavioral change that is able to build on the initial impetus of global-level frameworks.
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The impact that the retail format has on the level of individual motivation tends to be overlooked in discussions of the determinants of organic consumption, this neglect due to the tendency to model individual and contextual factors... more
The impact that the retail format has on the level of individual motivation tends to be overlooked in discussions of the determinants of organic consumption, this neglect due to the tendency to model individual and contextual factors separately. Hence, the dominant research paradigm has difficulty accounting for the differences in energy and motivation across consumers. Moreover, in spite of the expansions to the set of contextual factors, this paradigm is unable to increase the 'reality' of descriptions of consumer behavior so long as such attempts are then filtered back through modeling frameworks initially developed to address different questions. To illustrate the dual importance of asking the right questions and using appropriate models, this paper utilizes a modeling exercise to explore the consequences of using two prevalent modeling approaches that utilize a limited form of the relationship between individual and retail format to explain the level of motivation. By illustrating the potential for omitted variable bias and misleading policy implications, it is argued that novel modeling approaches are necessary to integrate the broader range of relationships that exist, as well as the relevance of these relationships to the level of motivation.