Using social media audience data to analyse the drivers of low-carbon diets
Low-carbon lifestyles are key to climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and keeping the Earth in a safe operating space. Understanding the global feasibility and drivers of low-carbon lifestyles requires large scale data covering various countries, demographic and socioeconomic groups...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abf770 |
| _version_ | 1797747653992251392 |
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| author | Sibel Eker David Garcia Hugo Valin Bas van Ruijven |
| author_facet | Sibel Eker David Garcia Hugo Valin Bas van Ruijven |
| author_sort | Sibel Eker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Low-carbon lifestyles are key to climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and keeping the Earth in a safe operating space. Understanding the global feasibility and drivers of low-carbon lifestyles requires large scale data covering various countries, demographic and socioeconomic groups. In this study, we use the audience segmentation data from Facebook’s advertising platform to analyse the extent and drivers of interest in sustainable lifestyles, plant-based diets in particular, at a global level. We show that formal education level is the most important factor affecting vegetarianism interest, and it creates a sharper difference in low-income countries. Gender is a strong distinguishing factor, followed by national gross domestic product per capita and age. These findings enable upscaling local empirical studies to a global level with confidence for integrated assessments of low-carbon lifestyles. Future studies can expand this analysis of social media audience data to other consumption areas, such as household energy demand, and can also contribute to quantifying the psychosocial drivers of low-carbon lifestyles, such as personal and social norms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-56f492850eb34d6fa9f2a2fa389dedb9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:40Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-56f492850eb34d6fa9f2a2fa389dedb92023-08-09T14:58:57ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-0116707400110.1088/1748-9326/abf770Using social media audience data to analyse the drivers of low-carbon dietsSibel Eker0David Garcia1Hugo Valin2Bas van Ruijven3International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) , Laxenburg, Austria; Climate Interactive , Washington, DC, United States of AmericaGraz University of Technology , Graz, Austria; Complexity Science Hub , Vienna, Austria; Medical University of Vienna , Vienna, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) , Laxenburg, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) , Laxenburg, AustriaLow-carbon lifestyles are key to climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and keeping the Earth in a safe operating space. Understanding the global feasibility and drivers of low-carbon lifestyles requires large scale data covering various countries, demographic and socioeconomic groups. In this study, we use the audience segmentation data from Facebook’s advertising platform to analyse the extent and drivers of interest in sustainable lifestyles, plant-based diets in particular, at a global level. We show that formal education level is the most important factor affecting vegetarianism interest, and it creates a sharper difference in low-income countries. Gender is a strong distinguishing factor, followed by national gross domestic product per capita and age. These findings enable upscaling local empirical studies to a global level with confidence for integrated assessments of low-carbon lifestyles. Future studies can expand this analysis of social media audience data to other consumption areas, such as household energy demand, and can also contribute to quantifying the psychosocial drivers of low-carbon lifestyles, such as personal and social norms.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abf770climate change mitigationdemandlow-carbon dietssustainable dietsFacebookbehaviour |
| spellingShingle | Sibel Eker David Garcia Hugo Valin Bas van Ruijven Using social media audience data to analyse the drivers of low-carbon diets Environmental Research Letters climate change mitigation demand low-carbon diets sustainable diets behaviour |
| title | Using social media audience data to analyse the drivers of low-carbon diets |
| title_full | Using social media audience data to analyse the drivers of low-carbon diets |
| title_fullStr | Using social media audience data to analyse the drivers of low-carbon diets |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using social media audience data to analyse the drivers of low-carbon diets |
| title_short | Using social media audience data to analyse the drivers of low-carbon diets |
| title_sort | using social media audience data to analyse the drivers of low carbon diets |
| topic | climate change mitigation demand low-carbon diets sustainable diets behaviour |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abf770 |
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