The webinar was dedicated to the presentation and discussion of ELI’s Innovation Paper ‘A Framework for Good Green Nudging’, and brought together leading experts in law, behavioural economics and public policy to examine how behavioural interventions can support environmental sustainability while respecting fundamental rights, individual autonomy and the rule of law.
Recording below.
The webinar was moderated by Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell (ELI President; Professor, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Director of the Chair AI: Foundations & Frontiers) and featured a presentation by Marta Santos Silva (Author of the Innovation Paper; Member of the ELI Executive Committee; Adjunct Researcher, University of Minho)), followed by comments from Christina Gravert (Associate Professor of Economics, University of Copenhagen), Toby Park (Director for Climate, Energy and Sustainability, Behavioural Insights Team), Yayun Shen (Research Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy and Management, University of Science and Technology of China) and Josia Luzak (Professor, University of Exeter).
Opening the webinar, Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell explained that Innovation Papers form part of ELI's family of soft law instruments, designed to provide timely and agile responses to emerging legal challenges. She situated the paper within ELI's sustainability pillar, one of the Institute's three strategic priorities alongside digitalisation and the rule of law, emphasising the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing contemporary societal challenges.
Presenting the Innovation Paper, Marta Santos Silva highlighted the growing role of behavioural insights in European policymaking. While environmental sustainability increasingly depends on individual decision-making, she noted that EU legislation currently regulates behavioural interventions through a fragmented collection of legislative instruments rather than a coherent legal framework. The Innovation Paper therefore proposes 11 Guiding Principles intended to synthesise existing EU legal values and safeguards into a structured framework for the design, implementation and evaluation of green nudges.
The presentation examined the concept of green nudging as a non-coercive behavioural intervention that encourages environmentally sustainable choices while preserving individuals' freedom of choice. Rather than advocating the use of nudges in every circumstance, the Innovation Paper argues that their legitimacy depends on careful governance. The proposed principles address issues including necessity, proportionality, privacy, transparency, explainability, autonomy, dignity, agency, effectiveness, acceptability and oversight.
Santos Silva emphasised that behavioural interventions should never be regarded as legitimate merely because they pursue desirable environmental objectives. Instead, they must remain lawful, transparent and respectful of fundamental rights. As she concluded, ‘Good green nudging is not just about changing behaviour. It's about governing behavioural influence in a way that's legitimate, accountable and worthy of public trust.’
The discussants welcomed the Innovation Paper as an important contribution to an emerging area of European law.
Christina Gravert explored the framework from the perspective of behavioural economics, explaining when nudges are most effective and how they interact with other regulatory tools such as taxation and mandatory regulation. She stressed that policymakers should first identify whether behavioural barriers actually exist before choosing nudges as a policy instrument, arguing that behavioural interventions should always be evidence-based and evaluated in practice. She also observed that many regulatory measures inevitably shape behaviour through their underlying choice architecture, making careful design essential.
Toby Park reflected on the ethical dimensions of behavioural interventions and welcomed the distinction drawn in the Innovation Paper between paternalistic and welfare-oriented nudges. In his view, this distinction is particularly important in the environmental context, where behavioural interventions seek to reduce harm to society rather than merely improve individual welfare.
Praising the Innovation Paper, he remarked:
‘I welcome the paper. I think it provides a great set of principles for both state and non-state practitioners.’
Yayun Shen examined green nudges through the lens of collective climate action, highlighting the importance of social norms, cooperation and digital environments in encouraging sustainable behaviour. Drawing on recent empirical research, she explained how behavioural interventions can strengthen collective action by making social expectations more visible while cautioning that digital environments may simultaneously weaken individuals' connection to their local communities and natural surroundings.
From a consumer law perspective, Josia Luzak focused on transparency as one of the Innovation Paper's central principles. While supporting transparency as an essential safeguard, she questioned how meaningful transparency can be achieved in practice given well-documented limitations of disclosures and consumers' limited attention. She argued that practical implementation requires interdisciplinary cooperation between lawyers, behavioural scientists, designers and communication specialists. She emphasised that the principles should be applied as a coherent framework rather than selectively, warning that designers of behavioural interventions should not ‘cherry-pick’ individual principles while disregarding others. Looking ahead, she suggested that the framework could also inform future industry standards and potentially influence assessments of professional diligence under EU consumer law.
The subsequent discussion addressed questions from participants concerning the effectiveness of green nudges, their practical implementation and the respective roles of public authorities and private actors. Responding to questions on implementation, Marta Santos Silva explained that the Innovation Paper is not intended to prescribe specific behavioural designs but rather to establish the legal and ethical framework within which policymakers and practitioners should operate. Several speakers stressed that behavioural interventions should complement rather than replace traditional regulatory measures and that empirical evaluation remains essential when selecting appropriate policy instruments.
The webinar concluded with broad agreement that behavioural regulation is becoming an increasingly important component of the European regulatory landscape and that a coherent legal framework is needed to ensure that green nudges remain effective, transparent and compatible with European values. The Innovation Paper was widely recognised as an important contribution to this evolving field, providing policymakers, regulators and practitioners with principled guidance for the responsible governance of behavioural interventions in support of environmental sustainability.
The recording is available below.
