Can green nudges increase inequalities?

Behavioral interventions, such as green nudges, are increasingly used to promote pro-environmental behaviors and address climate change. While these interventions are cost-effective and preserve individual autonomy, they can raise significant equity concerns. Green nudges, unlike most other nudges, often impose private costs to yield collective environmental gains. Given that low-income individuals contribute less to pollution and given that many green behaviors, such as purchasing eco-friendly products or offsetting carbon emissions, involve higher financial costs, the burden of green nudges can end up being unfair to the poorest segments of the population. In addition, this issue can be exacerbated if people living in poverty are more susceptible to the psychological biases that are leveraged by nudges. We review this evidence and show that the same nudge is likely to have a stronger effect on poorer people, which will further compound fairness issues in the case of costly green nudges. We conclude by arguing that policymakers must pay specific attention to the distributive impacts of green nudges. Future research should further investigate the psychological mechanisms that drive heterogeneous responses to green nudges. If these challenges are addressed both in policy and research, green nudges can contribute to equitable and effective climate policies that balance collective goals with individual fairness.