The food industry is one of the main contributors to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. The greatest impact is caused by production of animal-sourced foods. To reduce the planetary burden, a dietary shift from animal-based to more plant-based foods is necessary. Policy interventions are tools to achieve such a shift. For policies to be successful, acceptability is a crucial component. Several variables such as age, gender, education level, and geographical residence have previously been identified as decisive for policy acceptability. The aim of the present research is to go beyond these findings and obtain a deeper understanding of acceptability of policy proposals for reduced consumption of animal-sourced foods. Qualitative interviews with Swedish citizens were conducted to investigate which factors influence high respective low policy acceptability. Results indicate that environmental concern, exposure to plant-based foods, perceptions of others’ views, and environmental norms are crucial factors shaping policy acceptability, as these mediate several other critical factors. The discussion pointed out beliefs about the sufficiency of plant-based foods and the necessity of meat, ideas about consumers of plant-based foods as radical, and perceived effectiveness and fairness of the policies to be entry points for increasing policy acceptability, as these beliefs are theoretically established to be susceptible to change. Insights from the research can be used for policy design and communication efforts. The study offers recommendations to communicate the sufficiency and healthiness of plant-based foods, to frame its consumers in a more inclusive and appealing way for meat and dairy consumers to identify with, and to expose the policy tradeoffs by contrasting them with the environmental cause. / Mistra Food Futures WP7

Transportsektorn dras med ett antal problem som är proportionerliga mot antalet bilresor. Kommuner som vill begränsa dessa kan utnyttja markanvändningspolitiken, där kommunen ofta har rådighet över parkeringstalen, d.v.s. kraven på antal bilparkeringsplatser som ska anläggas. Forskningen pekar på att sänkta parkeringstal är effektivt för att minska antalet bilresor, men ju mer effektiv sådan policy är, desto mindre acceptabel anses den ofta vara hos allmänheten. Syftet med denna uppsats är därför att undersöka vilka faktorer som är betydelsefulla för acceptansgraden och om kommuner kan påverka dessa för att öka acceptansen. Detta görs med en enkätstudie (n=245) bland boende i femtio olika flerbostadshus i Huddinge kommun, där samband mellan enkätsvaren och uppgifter om bostadshusets fysiska miljö samt dess parkeringsplanering undersöks med hjälp av multipel regression. Resultatet visar att individers upplevelse av andra medborgares grad av acceptans, individers uppfattning den befintliga trafikproblematiken samt individens preferenser för sitt eget resande är de viktigaste faktorerna som påverkar acceptansgraden. Studien visar vidare att sänkt parkeringstal vid bostaden är korrelerat med lägre acceptans för kommunens parkeringsriktlinjer, och att det därmed är angeläget att hitta sätt att skapa mer av den acceptans som annars riskerar att urholkas när låga parkeringstal tillämpas i allt fler flerbostadshus. De flesta faktorer som kommunen har kontroll över saknar samband med acceptansgraden, men resultatet pekar på att några möjligheter finns inom cykelparkeringsförbättringar och kort gångavstånd till kollektivtrafiken. Vidare skulle kommuner kunna använda sig av placering av parkeringsplatser längre från bostaden i stället för sänkt parkeringstal för att uppnå sina mål, eftersom forskning visar på liknande effekter, samtidigt som denna studie pekar på att avståndet från bostaden inte har något samband med acceptansen. / The transportation sector is affected by multiple issues that are proportional to the number of car trips. Municipalities who wish to mitigate these issues can alter their land use policy, in which it typically has the power to set minimum parking requirements (MPRs) for properties within its boundaries. Previous research shows that lowered MPRs are effective in reducing the number of car trips, but the more effective such policy is, the less acceptable it is typically deemed to be by the public. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to determine which factors affect policy acceptance and how the municipality can influence this. The study is conducted using a self-administered questionnaire (n=245) with participants from fifty different apartment buildings across the Huddinge municipality. Relationships among the questionnaire data, data about the physical environment at the respondent’s house and the land use policy applied during its construction are then examined using multiple regression. The results show that individuals’ perception of acceptance among other citizens, individuals’ perceptions of traffic problems and individuals’ own preferences related to travel behaviour are the most important factors affecting acceptance. Furthermore, the study shows that lower MPRs at the respondent’s residence is correlated with lower acceptance for the municipality’s present parking policy. Therefore, it is important to find ways to engender acceptance, since support for the policy might otherwise be undermined as low MPRs get implemented in a greater share of apartment buildings. Most factors that the municipality can control are not correlated with the degree of acceptance, but the results suggest some possibilities in residential bicycle parking improvements and shorter walking distances to public transport stops. Additionally, the municipality could shift the focus of its land use policy measures toward placement of parking spaces further away from entrances, since previous research show that this may have a similar effect on car trips, and this study shows that it is not correlated with the degree of acceptance.