Want to encourage more sustainable habits? There’s an app for that

That’s the thinking behind the EU-funded Climate Campaigners project, which is helping to turn citizen awareness into engagement, and engagement into real action using digital tools. 

In this interview, Giulia Garzon, Junior Researcher, Energy Institute, JKU Linz, shares their successes, frustrations and learnings from gamifying behavioural change—and some surprising results. 

With the CAMPAIGNers app, we’ve seen how individual characteristics and lifestyle habits can shape how people engage with efforts to live more sustainably. The app uses behavioural science to encourage small, everyday changes. Through that, we’ve learned a lot about who gets involved and why.

For instance, women tend to be more active in the app than men, and younger users are more engaged than older ones, possibly because they’re more comfortable using mobile tools. 

People with higher incomes participate more but, interestingly, those with less formal education are also very active. This is perhaps because many of our Challenges focus on cost-saving, low-effort actions that resonate with their daily lives. 

We’ve also found that people who identify as heavy meat-eaters or frequent shoppers are often very engaged, perhaps as a way to balance out less environmentally friendly habits. In contrast, those already living very sustainably, like vegans or second-hand shoppers, are sometimes less active—possibly because they feel they’ve already made the necessary changes.

Overall, we’ve seen that personalised goal-setting works well—over 60% of users reach their targets. And when we connect Challenges to local issues and offer community-based rewards, engagement increases. 

However, we also face hurdles like high dropout rates, especially among men and older users, and the risk that short-term incentives don’t always lead to lasting change. That’s why we recommend tailoring content to different audiences, offering stronger community links and designing features that make sustainable choices feel easier and more rewarding long-term.

Yes, the CAMPAIGNers app includes a built-in carbon reduction tracker that estimates how much CO₂ a user saves by completing specific lifestyle Challenges, such as reducing meat consumption, biking instead of driving, or cutting down on plastic use. 

The impact of each Challenge in terms of average emissions reduction has been quantified by experts from LUT University (Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology). This allows us to give users a clear picture of the environmental impact of their actions.

As for whether these changes are lasting, we don’t yet have long-term evidence to confirm sustained behaviour change. However, we built in a reward system that helped users sustain some low-carbon lifestyles over time. Users could earn “climate coins” for completing Challenges and redeem them for sustainable items, such as reusable tote bags or coffee cups. 

These rewards are not just symbolic; they support continued low-carbon practices in daily life, such as giving up on disposable plastic bags and help turn short-term actions into long-term habits.

Rather than addressing these barriers directly through the app, our focus was on identifying the most relevant ones—especially within the context of our partner cities, which in the project were called Lighthouse Cities. 

To do this, we designed the app so that every time a user completed (or didn’t complete) a Challenge, they were asked a quick follow-up question: what was the main reason for success or failure? Users could indicate whether the difficulty came from lack of time, social pressure, infrastructure limitations or other common barriers.

This allowed us to gather valuable, real-world feedback on what’s holding people back from living more sustainably. We then shared these insights with local policymakers in the Lighthouse Cities, so they could use the data to inform future urban planning and policies. For example, improving bike infrastructure, adjusting public transport services or supporting community-level sustainability programs. 

It’s absolutely true that large-scale policy and industrial transformation are essential to address the climate crisis—but that doesn’t mean individual behaviour change is insignificant. In fact, the two go hand in hand. 

The figure quoted above is based on the PRIMES model, which is widely used for EU energy and climate policy analysis. That means individual choices–when supported and scaled through the right policies–can significantly ease the financial and social burden of the transition. 
People often underestimate the power of collective action. One person choosing to eat less meat, bike more, or reduce waste may seem small. But when millions make those shifts–and when governments recognise and support them–they become a powerful force for change.

One key challenge we faced was that the people most likely to download and engage with the app were already somewhat aware of or interested in sustainability. That means we were often reaching those already “on board,” while missing others—including those who may not actively seek out sustainable options. Also, interestingly, those who already live quite sustainably without labelling it as such. This can create a kind of engagement gap.

To address this, we were careful not to present a single model of what a “sustainable lifestyle” should look like. Instead, our goal was to support people in finding their own path toward sustainability based on their routines, motivations, and local context. We didn’t want anyone to feel judged or pressured, as that can lead to resistance rather than change. 

The app helped here by offering a wide variety of Challenges, so users could choose actions that felt relevant and realistic for them. This flexibility made the experience feel more personal and empowering. We also learned that even the best intentions can fall short if the process of change feels too hard.

In hindsight, we could have done more to simplify behavioural change by reducing reliance on users’ willpower. Making sustainable options easier to find and choose–whether that’s mapping local repair shops, highlighting second-hand stores, or improving access to low-carbon mobility options–is critical. 

One of our key success stories came from Vilnius, Lithuania, where we launched a local Challenge encouraging people to drink tap water for a week, offering reusable water bottles in the reward shop. 

This wasn’t just a random activity, but part of a broader city campaign to reduce plastic use, and it highlighted the benefits of Vilnius’s clean, high-quality groundwater. The Challenge was very well received because the message felt local, relevant and actionable.

From this and other experiences, we developed what we call the “local goal-setting triangle”: a model where (1) local sustainable businesses contribute by offering relevant rewards, (2) city authorities guide and support the initiative and (3) the content is tailored to address specific local sustainability issues as well as locally-grounded answers to these issues. This creates a sense of ownership and trust, making people more likely to participate and stick with the change.

These insights are highly transferable. They suggest that for sustainability campaigns to succeed in other cities, we shouldn’t rely solely on general messaging or top-down directives. Instead, we should collaborate with local actors, speak to the community’s values and priorities, and embed challenges in the context of everyday life. This can also inform policy by emphasising the value of locally grounded, community-led sustainability efforts that go beyond awareness and into action.

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