A new study by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) and the London School of Economics and Political Science argues that commercial sustainability marketing is fundamentally incompatible with degrowth, even when it encourages people to consume less. Published in the journal PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, the research suggests that advertising regulations should extend beyond campaigns promoting high-emission products such as meat and air travel to include subtler forms of “responsible consumption” marketing. The authors instead advocate communication approaches led by non-commercial actors that empower communities and citizens rather than framing environmental action primarily as individual consumer choice.

Degrowth calls for an equitable and democratic reduction in production and consumption in the wealthiest countries of the Global North in order to improve well-being, reduce inequality, and remain within planetary boundaries. Green growth, by contrast, seeks to maintain economic expansion while reducing environmental harm through technological innovation and greater efficiency. Although both concepts have gained significant attention in academic and policy discussions, little research has examined how these ideas can be communicated effectively to the public or which types of messengers are most credible in shaping attitudes and behaviour.

The research team, led by Dallas O’Dell, together with Frédéric Basso and Ganga Shreedhar, conducted two online experiments involving millennial participants in the United Kingdom. The first experiment tested marketing messages from a sustainable bath-products company. One set of messages reflected a green-growth perspective by promoting more sustainable purchasing choices without reducing overall consumption. In contrast, another reflected a degrowth perspective by encouraging people to consume less in pursuit of a better quality of life. The second experiment shifted to a citizenship-based context in which a non-commercial organisation presented similar ideas while exploring public support for environmental policies and attitudes toward economic growth.

The findings revealed a significant tension between the theoretical appeal of degrowth and the practical effects of commercial advertising. In the commercial setting, sufficiency-oriented marketing messages did not clearly distinguish degrowth from green growth in terms of participants’ willingness to purchase products, donate time, or alter broader consumption habits. The researchers suggest that advertising itself may trigger consumer-oriented ways of thinking that undermine messages about limits and restraint. Even when advertisements encouraged consuming less, the commercial framework continued to reinforce the broader logic of consumption and purchasing behaviour.

In contrast, the non-commercial, citizenship-oriented framing produced more complex results. Degrowth messaging was more effective in encouraging participants to question the importance of continuous economic growth, while green-growth messaging generated stronger short-term support for environmental policies. According to the researchers, this indicates that degrowth communication may be more successful in shaping deeper values and worldviews. In contrast, green growth may be more effective in mobilising immediate policy support. However, the study also found that framing environmental problems as systemic and requiring large-scale reductions could reduce people’s sense of personal agency and potentially discourage active engagement in collective change.

Overall, the study concludes that communication strategies for degrowth should avoid relying on commercial marketing logics and instead focus on messages delivered by non-commercial institutions that address people as citizens rather than consumers. The authors also call for broader structural measures, including stricter advertising regulations, shorter working hours, and limits on fossil fuel use, arguing that reducing consumption cannot rest solely on individual responsibility. They further identify an important direction for future research: understanding whether emphasising system failure in environmental communication may unintentionally weaken political engagement, activism, and advocacy by creating feelings of helplessness rather than empowerment.

More information: Dallas O’Dell et al, Translating system-level change to individuals: Experimental evidence on avenues to communicate about degrowth and green growth, PLOS Sustainability and Transformation. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pstr.0000245

Journal information: PLOS Sustainability and Transformation Provided by Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona