Achieving Transformative Change in Food Consumption in Austria: A Survey on Opportunities and Obstacles

Modern agriculture negatively impacts on global biodiversity by converting natural and extensively used habitats into intensely managed systems, and by releasing pollutants, including greenhouse gases. Since the demand for certain food products determines what is grown, consumer behavior is key to reduce food system related biodiversity losses. Here, we used an online survey targeting consumers in Austria to identify opportunities and barriers for consuming more sustainably. Respondents were split into two groups according to their affinity for nature conservation topics. In total, we received 320 completed responses, of which 264 participants described themselves as being concerned with environmental and conservation issues (called henceforth “nature conservation-affine”), while 56 participants identified themselves as distant to nature conservation (called henceforth “nature conservation-distant”). In general, the majority of respondents were concerned about aspects such as animal welfare or regionality when buying food. Split into the two above-mentioned groups, however, substantial differences emerged for most replies. For example, respondents from the nature conservation distant group had greater doubts about the advantages of organic food compared to conventionally produced food and frequently stated (45%) that they would rather not include biodiversity impacts in their food purchasing decisions. Similarly, we found a significantly greater willingness to buy vegetarian meat substitutes in the nature conservation affine group because of biodiversity and climate impacts of meat production. Overall, this study provides important insights into opportunities and obstacles for advancing sustainable food consumption from a consumer perspective; in particular, awareness of and affinity to conservation emerge as major factors on dietary preferences. Finally, we found that those individuals who are more interested in nature conservation issues are also more likely to be aware of how their diet affects biodiversity.