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Anne van Aaken
Institute of Law and Economics, Faculty of Law, University of Hamburg, Alsterterrasse 1, 2nd floor, D-20354 Hamburg, Germany. Email: anne.van.aaken@uni-hamburg.de | ORCID: https://orcid.org0000-0003-3058-314X
(2024) 04 (01) Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 1-21 https://doi.org/10.33002/jelp040101
Received: 25 March 2024
Accepted: 25 May 2024
Reviewed: 05 May 2024
Published: 01 June 2024
Revised: 15 May 2024
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The United Nations (UN) and several UN Agencies have started to use behavioural sciences in order to achieve their policy goals, including for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). While it is appreciated that insights into actual behavior inform the policymaking of international actors, they also raise scientific and normative considerations that warrant caution. First, for those considerations it matters, who the acting and the targeted actors are: behavioural interventions come in many facets and warrant a differentiated view – a finely built roadmap is thus desirable. Second, there are concerns about the internal and external validity of experimental research on which behavioural sciences largely, but not solely, draws. Third, taking a differentiated view on behavioral sciences also allows for a more finely grained view on normative concerns underlying the operations of the United Nations in environmental policy. This contribution spells out those considerations while still advocating for the approach as such.
Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals; Behavioural Sciences; Law and Behaviour; United Nations; International Environmental Law and Policy
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Aaken, A. van (2024). Behavioural Sciences Used by the United Nations to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: A Roadmap and Some Stop Signs. Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, 04(01), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.33002/jelp040101
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