https://www.ledauphine.com/environnement/2026/07/02/environnement-et-si-grenoble-detenait-la-cle-de-la-transition-ecologique-ce-que-revelent-deux-etudes

https://www.grenoble-em.com/actualites/gem-expert-ordures-menageres-comment-mieux-vendre-au-public-la-tarification-au-volume/

Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) tariff schemes, in which households pay based on their waste generation, are proposed as solutions to the growing worldwide challenge of municipal solid waste management. However, public acceptance of such schemes remains low. Using a one-factor between-subject experimental survey design with 620 participants, we test the effects of environmental and accountability appeals and of individual characteristics in shaping preferences for a proposed PAYT scheme in Grenoble, France. We find a positive effect of the accountability appeal and no effect of the environmental appeal on preference for the PAYT scheme compared to a fixed-fee scheme. Additional analyses suggest that accountability appeals are particularly effective for individuals with below-median age, above-median income, and at least a master’s degree, indicating that policymakers should target younger and educated citizens with these appeals in PAYT campaigns. Future research could test the applicability of these findings in other settings and for other waste-related interventions.

This study investigates the causal effects of highlighting municipal climate protection leadership on citizens' pro-climate activities, as reflected by their stated willingness-to-pay to offset their carbon footprint (WTPO). It further examines whether the effects of receiving information about municipal climate protection leadership on citizens' WTPO vary by socio-demographic characteristics. The empirical analysis employs a survey implemented in 2021 among citizens in the metropolitan area of Grenoble (France), the recipient of the 2022 European Green Capital Award. The survey included a randomized experiment where about half the participants were informed about Grenoble’s climate protection performance and the city’s recognition as European Green Capital whereas the other half did not receive this information nudge. Results based on estimating Tobit models suggest that participants who received this information intend to pay about 25% more to offset their carbon footprint than participants who did not receive this information. The findings further imply that this effect is stronger for younger and for less affluent participants in the sample. By signaling their climate protection leadership, municipalities may encourage unengaged citizens to participate in climate protection activities and motivate those already involved to increase their efforts.

Public acceptability appears an essential condition for the success of low-carbon transition policies. In this paper, we investigate the role of self-interest on citizens’ preferences for the distribution of costs and environmental benefits of energy efficiency policies. Using a discrete choice experiment on nationally representative household samples of Sweden, Italy, and the United Kingdom, we first investigate preferences for national burden-sharing rules and for the distribution of environmental benefits accruing primarily in rural and/or urban areas. We examine the role of self-interest and self-serving bias in a correlational manner by looking at the effects of income and location of residency on preferences for these policy attributes. Moreover, we investigate the effect of self-serving bias on preferences for burden-sharing rules in a causal manner by experimentally priming randomly assigned groups of participants to feel either rich or poor. Our results suggest that the accountability rule is the most popular and the equal-amount rule the least popular burden-sharing rule. Further, policies with environmental benefits accruing primarily in rural areas are least preferred. We find some evidence for self-interest, especially through our correlational approach. Finally, across country samples, our results reveal heterogeneity in preferences for policy attributes and in the prevalence of self-interest.

Legislative proposals intend to require that manufacturers provide consumers with information on product life-cycle impacts. Yet, little is known about how consumers value such life-cycle information and who would be most sensitive to it. In this paper, we employ data from a demographically representative household survey among the adult population in Germany (N = 404), which elicits individuals’ preferences for energy-related attributes of refrigerators. Based on mixed logit analysis of a discrete choice experiment, we find that consumers, on average, dislike refrigerators with much higher embodied energy, value the highest energy class, and prefer refrigerators with longer warranty periods. Latent class models distinguish three consumer classes: 'price sensitives' (36%), 'quality seekers' (24%) and 'energy savers' (40%). 'Energy savers' are characterized by a higher environmental identity, energy literacy, and more patience than the other classes. Rating scales reveal that consumers consider life-cycle properties with direct, private benefits much more strongly than properties with mainly indirect, social benefits. Results from ordered logit models suggest that women with more patience and high environmental identity consider all life-cycle properties more strongly, while durability appears to also be valued more by low-income and more energy literate consumers. The results support ongoing policy initiatives that require the provision of life-cycle information and call for instruments to help consumers select appliances based on life-cycle costs.