Digital Careinside the circle
Behaviours

Green Consumption Assistant

2020-2023 By Berliner Hochschule für Technik, Ecosia, Technical University of Berlin
A graphic of a t-shirt with a ecological symbol next to it and a third
icon of a search bar with a leaf.
Illustration by La Loma, based on the research project “Green Consumption Assistant – a lighthouse project for sustainable consumption”, 2020-2023 by the Technical University Berlin.

‘Nudging’ is a common practice in web design that directs users toward more expensive purchases. Is it ethical to use these same techniques to promote health, wellness and sustainability? Is it possible to ‘nudge for good’? The Green Consumption Assistant experiments with these questions. By installing an extension in the search engine Ecosia, users will receive nudges and recommendations to buy more sustainable products, as well as search results for services for repair, rental and sharing.

An image of various different phones in the shopping section of the Ecosia browser.
Screenshot of online-shopping and searching ‘Jeans Herren’ in Ecosia. Sustainable products are marked with the banner ‘Sustainable’ and are prominently displayed in the results list. Green Consumption Assistant, 2020-2023 by the Technical University Berlin.