Joop de Boer

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam | VU · The Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)

This paper explores how the transition to a low-carbon society to mitigate climate change can be better supported by a diet change. As climate mitigation is not the focal goal of consumers who are buying or consuming food, the study highlighted the role of motivational and cognitive background factors, including possible spillover effects. Consumer...

This article aims to clarify citizens' responses to conspiratorial anti-science beliefs (e.g. "The cure for cancer exists but is hidden from the public by commercial interests"). Based on Eurobarometer 95.2 (Spring 2021, 38 countries), we examine how public opposition or support for conspiratorial anti-science beliefs is related to individual-and c...

This paper aims to gain more insight into potential synergies between food safety and healthy diets with a sustainable protein transition (i.e., reducing protein over-consumption and replacing animal protein with plant protein) in the EU. The paper is based on a systematic analysis of the survey on food safety, organized by the European Food Safety...

Meat reduction might become a new extension of the personal climate actions in the European Union (EU), but this development is not without challenges. Focusing on consumers, this paper investigates 1) how meat reduction is related to other climate actions and 2) how adopters of meat reduction and those who just take other actions differ in concern...

This paper seeks to understand how pro-environmental food practices among women and men in the EU can be supported by considering the interlinkages between gender equality and environmental sustainability. A special aspect is that the role of gender equality is interpreted in terms of Schwartz's theory on national cultural values, which relates gen...

This paper aims to improve an understanding of how EU citizens’ left-right political positions and ideological polarization on climate change affect their views on both agriculture and diet in the context of climate change policy. It uses the methods of survey research and quantitative analyses of the data (principal components and regression analy...

This paper aims to highlight the position of meat reduction in what EU consumers think “eating a healthy and sustainable diet” involves and who has a role to play in achieving food system change. The data are based on the Eurobarometer 93.2 survey (mid 2020). The participants were asked to make their own selections out of a variety of food-related...

This paper investigates how consumers can be guided towards healthy diets from sustainable and more animal-friendly food systems, in times when no single food system can be considered the best. In order to provide an alternative, the paper focuses on how farm animal welfare concerns can be translated into potential consumer goals, inspired by the “...

A shift to a more healthy and sustainable diet (as recommended by the EAT Lancet Commission report) is currently hampered by persistent choices for meat. This paper puts forward the view that proposals for a diet shift will fall short without broad social legitimation by a change in social norms favoring plant instead of animal protein sources. Usi...

This study explored whether EU's new Farm to Fork strategy (F2F)-which aims to tackle climate change, protect the environment and preserve biodiversity in the pursuit of more sustainable food practices-moves in a direction that matches consumer concerns about global issues. A key point is that the traditional differences between the policy approach...

Using data from Eurobarometer 83.4, this study combines the two branches of research that address climate-related and biodiversity-related opinions and actions of individuals in the EU. The literature shows that the differences between climate-related and biodiversity-related policies correspond, at an individual level, to a person's basic attitude...

– A shift to a healthy and sustainable diet (as recommended by the EAT Lancet Commission) needs to have a strong societal legitimation. This makes it relevant to investigate to what extent countries are using their Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) in ways that can stimulate such a shift.. – Given the pivotal role of protein, we examined what p...

A shift to a more healthy and sustainable diet (as recommended by the EAT Lancet Commission report) is currently hampered by persistent choices for meat, which are based on stable preferences and positive feedback mechanisms at the individual, social, and economic/organizational level. This paper puts forward the view that proposals for a diet shif...

Fish has several benefits that make it a desirable part of a healthy diet. It is also a high-protein product that can be used as a relatively efficient meat replacer. Both from a health and sustainability perspective, however, it is important to consider the optimum number of fish servings per week and to examine whether fish and plant protein can...

This paper proposes a transition framework for restoring a healthy and sustainable balance in protein consumption in high-meat eating countries. The transition aims to reduce total protein intake as well as the dietary ratio of animal over plant protein (from 60 : 40 via 50 : 50 to 40 : 60), which will require changes in consumer food choice proces...

In this research it is aimed to outline the role and potential contribution of insects towards food security and sustainability from a multidisciplinary perspective. First, ecological, economic and social aspects of food sustainability and food security are identified by prioritising the environmental impacts associated with food production and con...

Background Meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires a relatively rapid transition towards a circular economy. Therefore, a multidisciplinary perspective is required to sketch why a transition from diets based primarily on animal proteins towards diets based primarily on plant proteins products is extremely urgent for both food security...

This paper aims to identify changes in food group consumption that may improve both health and sustainability scores of low-scoring population subgroups. As a case study, we assessed the impacts of the diets of a representative sample of Dutch consumers (age 18–75 y, n = 1242). The health impact of their diets was assessed using the Dutch Healthy D...

Food has become a central focus for the achievement of sustainability objectives. One of the current challenges is that promoting food sustainability requires much more attention to cultural and social contexts and the food philosophies of specific groups of consumers. The present paper focuses on those consumers in the Netherlands who intrinsicall...

This paper develops a new perspective on the relevance of different food orientations for healthier and more sustainable diets. Consumers' food orientations vary in the relative importance of sensory- and reward-related factors (hereafter called Reward) or beliefs and values that are causes for reflection on broader themes (hereafter called Reflect...

The current ratio between plant and animal protein in the Western diet is causing serious threats to both public health and the environment. Healthy, pro-environmental protein consumption requires a transition to a diet with more plant protein and considerably less animal protein. The present paper focuses on the prospects of this transition by ana...

This paper adds to the food, health and sustainability literature by examining the content, merits, and limitations of a frame-based approach to assist consumers on the path to a healthy and sustainable diet, focusing on reducing conventional meat consumption. The paper combined literature on frames with literature on meat consumption. It showed th...

This study provides insight into differences and similarities in the mindset and motivation of four dietary groups (young self-declared vegetarians, low, medium and high meat-eaters) to support the development of strategies for a general transition to a less meat-based diet. The paper highlights the value of the identity concept for our understandi...

This study provides insight into differences and similarities in the mindset and motivation of four dietary groups (young self-declared vegetarians, low, medium and high meat-eaters) to support the development of strategies for a general transition to a less meat-based diet. The paper highlights the value of the identity concept for our understandi...

For addressing climate change, public support for changes in policy is needed, as well changes in individual lifestyles. Both of these appear to be intimately related with people’s worldviews. Understanding these worldviews is therefore essential. In order to research and ‘map’ them, we translated the theoretical ‘Integrative Worldview Framework’ (...

Effective communication about climate change and related risks is complicated by the polarization between “climate alarmists” and “skeptics.” This paper provides insights for the design of climate risk communication strategies by examining how the interplay between climate change and flood risk communication affects citizens’ risk perceptions and r...

The achievement of sustainability and health objectives in Western countries requires a transition to a less meat-based diet. This article investigates whether the alleged link between meat consumption and particular framings of masculinity, which emphasize that ‘real men’ eat meat, may stand in the way of achieving these objectives. From a theoret...

This article examines the extent and manner to which evaluations of flood-related precautions are affected by an individual's motivation and perception of context. It argues that the relationship between risk perception and flood risk preparedness can be fruitfully specified in terms of vulnerability and efficacy if these concepts are put into the...

This article proposes an approach to flood risk communication that gives particular emphasis to the distinction between prevention and promotion motivation. According to E. Tory Higgins, the promotion system and the prevention system are assumed to coexist in every person, but one or the other may be temporarily or chronically more accessible. Thes...

Scenarios have become a powerful tool in integrated assessment and policy analysis for climate change. Socio-economic and climate scenarios are often combined to assess climate change impacts and vulnerabilities across different sectors, and to inform risk management strategies. Such combinations of scenarios can also play an important role in enab...

Adapting Western meat consumption to health and sustainability challenges requires an overall reduction of industrially produced animal proteins plus a partial replacement by plant proteins. Combining insights on food, environment, and consumers, this paper aims to explore change strategies that may help to meet these challenges, such as promoting...

Food production, especially meat, is one of the main pressures on the environment and experts agree that diets have to change into a more sustainable direction. The present paper examines whether Self-Determination Theory (SDT) can be of help in fostering more sustainable food choices by taking a closer look at the relationship between food-related...

This study investigates the processes that mediate the effects of framing flood risks on people's information needs. Insight into the effects of risk frames is important for developing balanced risk communication that explains both risks and benefits of living near water. The research was inspired by the risk information seeking and processing mode...

Food consumption has been identified as a realm of key importance for progressing the world towards more sustainable consumption overall. Consumers have the option to choose organic food as a visible product of more ecologically integrated farming methods and, in general, more carefully produced food. This study aims to investigate the choice for o...

This paper addresses the relationship between meat eating and climate change focusing on motivational explanations of environmentally-relevant consumer behavior. Based on a sample of 1,083 Dutch consumers, it examines their responses to the idea that they can make a big difference to nature and climate protection by choosing one or more meals witho...

This paper addresses the relationship between meat eating and climate change focusing on motivational explanations of environmentally-relevant consumer behavior. Based on a sample of 1,083 Dutch consumers, it examines their responses to the idea that they can make a big difference to nature and climate protection by choosing one or more meals witho...

The recently developed Food Choice Motives (FCMs) questionnaire was used in a survey among a sample from the general population in the Netherlands (n = 1083) to examine the relationship between motivational differences in food orientation and the choice of snacks made from environmentally-friendly proteins (i.e. lentils, locusts, seaweed or "hybrid...

Food production and consumption is one of the main pressures on the environment. The fact that diets have to change into a more sustainable direction is generally agreed upon. There is, however, no shared vision of a sustainable and desirable society to support these changes. This paper aims to develop a framework that can account for value plurali...

This report describes and analyses how leading researchers from knowledge institutes in the Netherlands have – explicitly or implicitly – used insights about frames to support the participation of non-experts in climate change adaptation at the regional level, i.e. adaptation projects in the Climate changes Spatial Planning programme. Frames are or...

The shift towards a more sustainable diet necessitates less reliance on foods of animal origin. This study presents data from a representative survey of Dutch consumers on their practices related to meat, meat substitution and meat reduction. The practices reflected a cultural gradient of meat substitution options running from other products of ani...

Aims 1. To better understand reasoning and decision-making on "wicked problems", which do not come in disciplinary-shaped boxes and call for stakeholder involvement; 2. To clarify the difference between, on the one hand, policy issues discussed by policy makers and stakeholders, and, on the other hand, formal research questions that can become the...

This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of protein production for the global environment and to give insight into the way consumers frame the protein part of their meal. Using a macro perspective, it presents a review of the literature on current and future impacts of the nutritional transition that has made animals the chief source of protei...

Deze Capita Selecta van de Voedselbalans wordt gevuld door de essays van respectievelijk Joop de Boer van het Instituut voor Milieuvraagstukken (IVM) van de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam: "Bewegen in het spanningsveld tussen instrumentele en expressieve visies op duurzaamheid" en van Robert King van het Food Industry Centre (FIC) van de University o...

In deze bundel wordt teruggekeken op het project STEM. Deze bundel bevat daartoe twee essays. In het eerste essay, geschreven door Rosa Uylenburg, wordt nagegaan in hoeverre de uitgevoerde onderzoeken hebben geleid tot het bereiken van de doelstellingen van de STEM onderzoeksprogramma’s. Meer concreet wordt de vraag gesteld of de evaluatieonderzoek...

Voeding biedt volgens sommige auteurs unieke mogelijkheden om de “voetafdruk” die menselijke activiteiten op aarde achterlaten, drastisch te verminderen. De gedachte hierachter is dat het effect van “anders gaan eten” relatief groot is en dat er al veel alternatieven beschikbaar zijn die iedereen flexibel kan toepassen. Inderdaad zou deze redenerin...

New applications of genomics techniques in soil ecology may provide people with fresh insights into the richness of microbial life forms and natural methods to build on the "self-cleaning capacity" of soils. Because genetic modification might also be involved, this paper examines people's judgments about some applications, using a theory on the pro...

The present paper describes a frame-based approach to situated-decision-making on climate change. Building on the multidisciplinary literature on the relationship between frames and decision-making, it argues that decision-makers may gain from making frames more explicit and using them for generating different visions about the central issues. Fram...

This document provides the results of a scoping study into the role of risk perception in shaping climate proofing the Netherlands. The main points are the following. What is the problem? • Climate change cannot be perceived directly; hence, decision-making on mitigation and adaptation has to be informed by reports on detection and attribution of c...

People’s understanding of climate change is shaped by underlying organizing principles or “frames”. Frames enable a person to develop a culturally accepted opinion about an issue without having to consider all the details. Hence, well-founded frames are prerequisites for public participation in climate-related planning.

The present paper describes a frame-based approach to situated-decision-making on climate change. Based on the multidisciplinary literature on the relationship between frames and decision-making, it argues that members of a decision unit may gain from making frames more explicit. Frames are the organizing principles of perception that shape in a "h...

In the perception, knowledge production and policymaking on complex issues (‘wicked problems’), such as climate change, frames and framing play an important but often hidden role. Frames relate to one’s ‘schemas of interpretation’; the conceptual images, values, starting points, and mental models that one may have of an issue. This can include, for...

The present paper analyzed the motivational orientations of consumers who choose to eat (1) small portions of meat or (2) ethically distinctive meat, such as free-range meat, in relation to the motivational orientations of their opposites. Going beyond the conventional approach to consumer behavior, our work builds on recent insights in motivationa...

The present paper analyzed the motivational orientations of consumers who choose to eat (1) small portions of meat or (2) ethically distinctive meat, such as free-range meat, in relation to the motivational orientations of their opposites. Going beyond the conventional approach to consumer behavior, our work builds on recent insights in motivationa...

This project (IC10; Communicating climate change: tools for framing climate risks and benefits) was carried out in the framework of the Dutch National Research Programme Climate changes Spatial Planning.

This paper examines two contrasting mental models that can be used to frame climate change and climate-proofing (i.e. adaptation and mitigation). The models refer to common causes and common effects, respectively. Climate change may be relatively easy to grasp if it is conceived as a common cause of different changes in nature. That is important to...

We tested how consumers recognize, understand and value on-package information about food production methods that may contribute to a more sustainable agriculture. Nine copy tests were formed, each containing one out of three products and one out of three panels of information. The products were (1) fillet of chicken, (2) semi-skimmed milk and (3)...

This paper aims to improve our understanding of food choices that are more sustainable in terms of moral and health aspects of eating. The aim of sustainability may require that people in Western countries choose to eat smaller quantities of meat as well as types of meat that are produced in a more responsible way. Focusing on mediators of the rela...

Taking the role of frames into account may significantly add to the tools that have been developed for communication and learning on complex risks and benefits. As part of a larger multidisciplinary study into climate-related forms of sense-making this paper explores which frames are used by the citizens of Western European countries and, in partic...

Chapter 4 is the first of two chapters on the question whether a diet shift is socially desirable. It takes a behavioural perspective, whereas Chapter 5 is oriented towards processes at the level of organisations and markets. Accordingly, the main theme of the present chapter is how a diet shift is related to the behaviour of producers and consumer...

Taken together, the research projects that constitute PROFETAS have developed a comprehensive approach to assess whether and how a transition of protein production and consumption may contribute to a more sustainable system of protein supply. The common object of study was the triple hypothesis that a shift in the Western diet from meat protein to...

This is the second of two chapters on the question whether a diet shift is socially desirable. Whereas the preceding one took a behavioural perspective, the present chapter is oriented towards processes at the level of markets and institutions. In terms of Chapter 1, it should be repeated that there is a difference between factors that contribute t...

In search of viable ways to create more sustainable diets, it is extremely valuable to analyse how people in various countries are supplied with dietary proteins from plant-based and animal-based sources. As a cross-national comparison of food ingredients may easily lead to misleading interpretations, it is crucial to opt for a multidisciplinary ap...

This paper argues that psychologists are only beginning to understand how global environmental issues may be related to the ways people create a 'fit' between themselves and their environment in order to survive. The notion of a person-environment fit is an analogue at the personal level of the concept of sustainable development at the level of soc...

Sustainable Protein Production and Consumption: Pigs or Peas? is a book that presents and explores the PROFETAS programme for development of a more sustainable food system by studying the feasibility of substituting meat with plant based alternatives. The emphasis is on improving the food system by reducing the use of energy, land, and freshwater,...

Current patterns of meat consumption are considered to be unsustainable. Sustainable development may require that consumers choose to eat smaller quantities of meat as well as meat that is produced in a more sensible way. A policy tool directed at consumer behaviour is that of enhancing consumer-oriented transparency of the production chain. Transp...

Industrial transformation is not primarily a psychological process. Technical experts might change a technological system in a way that does not have to be noticed by the people that are using it. For example, the fact that meat is less used as a central part of the meal makes it feasible to design ready-made meals that contain less animal and more...

The concept of sustainability in general and food sustainability, in particular, entails many aspects and many interpretations. During a conference on food sustainability a broad, multidisciplinary picture was painted and many key issues were dealt with, from ecology, economy and society. In sessions on food security – the focus in developing count...

In opdracht van DG Water is Rijkswaterstaat als onderdeel van de Waterverkenningen gestart met het project Waterbewustzijn. Wat is waterbewustzijn en wat kan de overheid ermee in de praktijk? Hoe waterbewust moeten Nederlanders worden en als ze dat dan eenmaal zijn, wat schieten we daar dan mee op? Aan het project werken het RIKZ samen met het RIZA...

In this paper the author examines the role of labelling and certification schemes in the pursuit of policies to make production and consumption processes more sustainable. From a logical point of view, labels are conceived as claims put forward by sellers to inform buyers about certain characteristics of their products. In the case of sustainabilit...