Sustainability & Green Behaviours

Sustainable decision‑making is shaped by identity, habits, social norms, perceived effort, and the emotional trade‑offs people make when choosing between convenience and environmental responsibility. While many consumers intend to act sustainably, their actual behaviour often diverges due to friction, uncertainty, or competing motivations. Brand Dummy applies behavioural science to uncover the mechanisms behind this intention–action gap and helps organizations design products, messages, and experiences that make sustainable choices easier, more intuitive, and more aligned with how people naturally decide.

  • Understanding the Intention–Action Gap

    Understanding the Intention–Action Gap

    Brand Dummy identifies the psychological barriers that prevent consumers from following through on sustainable intentions — from effort and habit to identity conflict — and provides strategies to close the gap.

  • Behaviourally-Informed Choice Architecture

    Behaviourally-Informed Choice Architecture

    We redesign decision environments to make sustainable options feel simpler, more rewarding, and more automatic, reducing friction and increasing adoption without relying on guilt‑based messaging.

  • Motivations, Identity, & Social Norms Analysis

    Motivations, Identity & Social Norms Analysis

    Brand Dummy uncovers the emotional and identity‑driven factors that shape sustainable behaviour, helping organizations craft messages and experiences that resonate with real motivations rather than abstract values.

  • Testing & Optimizing Sustainable Interventions

    Testing & Optimizing Sustainable Interventions

    We use behavioural experimentation to evaluate which nudges, framings, or design changes actually shift behaviour, ensuring organizations invest in strategies that produce measurable, real‑world impact.

Green Messaging Audit

Green Messaging Audit: Evaluating ESG Credibility and Trust Risks

BD TOOLKITS

The Green Messaging Audit (GMA) is a diagnostic framework designed to evaluate the strength and authenticity of a brand’s sustainability and ESG communications. In an era where vague claims are quickly reframed as greenwashing, the audit provides a structured way to test whether messaging is clear, credible, consistent, and resilient under scrutiny.

Unlike compliance checklists, the audit simulates real‑world stressors—regulatory challenges, activist critiques, consumer skepticism, and investor inquiries. Each claim is mapped across these scenarios to reveal whether it is resilient, vulnerable, or exposed. This approach transforms abstract reputational risk into tangible checkpoints that leaders can act on.

Purchase GMA

Closing the sustainability intention–action gap

Closing the sustainability intention–action gap requires understanding why people want to act sustainably yet often fail to follow through. Brand Dummy examines the psychological mechanisms behind this gap — including habits, identity, perceived effort, emotional trade‑offs, and social norms — and translates these insights into practical strategies that make sustainable choices easier, more intuitive, and more aligned with how people naturally decide. By combining behavioural diagnosis with evidence‑based design, Brand Dummy helps organizations shift sustainability from an abstract value to an everyday behaviour.

  • Identifying Behavioural Barriers

    Brand Dummy uncovers the cognitive, emotional, and contextual obstacles that prevent consumers from acting on sustainable intentions, revealing the real reasons behind inaction.

  • Reducing Friction in Sustainable Choices

    We redesign decision environments to make sustainable options feel simpler, faster, and more convenient, lowering the effort required to choose the environmentally responsible path.

  • Aligning Sustainability with Identity and Motivation

    Brand Dummy analyzes how identity, values, and social norms shape sustainable behaviour and helps organizations craft messages that resonate with what people genuinely care about.

  • Reframing Benefits & Trade‑Offs

    We apply behavioural framing to highlight the immediate, personal, and emotional benefits of sustainable actions — not just long‑term environmental outcomes.

  • Designing Behavioural Nudges & Interventions

    Brand Dummy develops evidence‑based nudges that guide consumers toward sustainable behaviour without pressure or guilt, increasing follow‑through in real‑world contexts.

  • Testing & Optimizing What Actually Works

    We use behavioural experimentation to evaluate which interventions meaningfully shift behaviour, ensuring organizations invest in strategies that deliver measurable impact.

How can we help?

  • People often express strong sustainable values but default to convenience, habit, or perceived cost. Brand Dummy identifies the psychological barriers behind this intention–action gap and designs interventions that make sustainable choices easier and more automatic.

  • When choices require extra steps, cognitive load, or unclear trade‑offs, consumers revert to the default. Brand Dummy reduces friction by redesigning decision environments so sustainable options feel simpler, faster, and more intuitive.

  • Abstract environmental claims rarely influence behaviour. Brand Dummy reframes sustainability in ways that connect to identity, emotion, and personal benefit, increasing relevance and follow‑through.

  • Greenwashing concerns and complex data can create skepticism or paralysis. Brand Dummy helps organizations communicate sustainability with clarity, transparency, and behavioural framing that builds trust and reduces cognitive overload.

  • Even when people start strong, habits fade without reinforcement. Brand Dummy designs behavioural nudges, cues, and feedback loops that support long‑term, repeatable sustainable actions.

  • Many sustainability initiatives rely on assumptions rather than evidence. Brand Dummy uses behavioural experimentation to test, validate, and optimize interventions so clients invest in strategies that produce measurable impact.