13. Nudging and Environmental Law

This article analyses nudging in constitutional and environmental law. On the level of constitutional law, nudging is criticized for being paternalistic. On second thought, many forms of nudging are in contrast not paternalistic, because they do not protect an individual from themselves, but others from negative effects of the actions of an individual. Especially in environmental policies, nudging therefore proves to be legitimate. However, nudging might not be as effective as policy instrument for environmental issues, as many hope. Even though this article shows interesting possible examples of nudging, it also argues why the effect of nudging as main policy instrument in solving environmental problems will be limited.