How can complex climate science become useful to the people making decisions across our food systems?

This question sat at the heart of CHOICE, a Horizon Europe project bridging climate modelling, human behaviour and real-world decisions. 

On 8–9 October 2026, the consortium met at the CogniSensus premises of ICCS in Athens for the project's Final Event. Yannis Kopsinis, Evi Brousta and Georgia Papadogianni presented LIBRA AI Technologies' work in three areas: A/B testing, data storytelling, and communication and dissemination. 

CHOICE: bringing human behaviour into climate models 

Climate action depends not only on technology and policy, but also on how people produce, buy and eat food. Yet climate models rarely capture the diversity of human behaviour behind these choices. 

CHOICE set out to close this gap. It advanced Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) such as FeliX, GLOBIOM and the FABLE Calculator to include behaviour change and different types of actors, and built interactive tools that let non-experts explore them. 

The project tested its approach in five pilots: 

  • Germany: sustainable food choices for retail customers 
  • Greece: climate-conscious online grocery shopping on e-Fresh.gr 
  • Spain: sustainable olive and livestock farming in Andalusia 
  • Colombia: sustainable practices with women coffee producers 
  • South Africa: healthier diets and less food waste among young people 

 

A/B testing: learning what works 

The way a message is framed can change how people respond. To test this, LIBRA developed an A/B Testing Platform that compares campaign messages and supports evidence-based decisions. 

Across CHOICE, the platform ran 24 A/B tests on retailer and cooperative websites, newsletters, WhatsApp groups with coffee producers, surveys with South African youth, the Shrink Your Food Waste app and the Hotspot Earth game. 

Using Bayesian analysis, each test estimated the probability that a message performs best. In large newsletter campaigns in Germany, reaching groups of over 550,000 and 1.7 million people, an emotional subject line outperformed an informational one with a 100% probability of being best. 

Beyond picking winners, the tests gave pilot teams a systematic way to learn from their audiences and refine their campaigns. Higher engagement alone does not prove lasting behaviour change, but it shows which messages open the door. 

Watch a video showcasing the A/B Testing Platform here: 

 

Data storytelling: making science understandable 

Model outputs and indicators are hard to relate to without context. Using our eight-step Data Storytelling methodology, we created 30 data stories across the five pilots, turning scientific evidence into clear, local messages: 

  • Spain: cover crops can cut soil loss in olive groves by up to 93% compared with conventional tillage. 
  • Colombia: improved coffee processing can reduce water use by about 30%. 
  • South Africa: the average person buys just 20% of the recommended fruit and vegetable intake — yet wastes 20% of even that. 
  • Germany and Greece: the climate impact of food purchases, explained through familiar comparisons. 
  • Global: insights from the FeliX model on how flexitarian diets could cut food-system emissions by 2050. 

The stories ran in digital campaigns, online shops, newsletters, the Shrink Your Food Waste app and the CHOICE website, reaching consumers, farmers, young people and other stakeholders. 

Communication and dissemination 

Over three years, LIBRA led CHOICE's communication, as Georgia Papadogianni presented at the Final Event. We built the project's brand book, visual identity and media kit, and shaped messages for citizens, producers, retailers, researchers and policymakers. 

The results exceeded our targets: 

  • 12 thematic social media campaigns 
  • 730 posts and 206,000+ impressions, about four times the target 
  • 21,700 website visits against a target of 5,000 
  • 13,000+ video views across project videos, webinars and pilot content 
  • Press releases, articles, interviews, radio and podcast appearances 

We also promoted the project's open modelling tools, including the FeliX and FABLE Calculator interactive simulation environments, helping them reach beyond specialist audiences. 

Beyond the project 

Two of CHOICE's key exploitable results come from LIBRA: the A/B Testing Platform and the Data Storytelling methodology. We plan to develop the platform further for digital marketing agencies, e-commerce businesses and organisations seeking evidence-based campaigns. The storytelling methodology can support sustainability communication, research dissemination and stakeholder engagement. 

Thank you 

Our thanks go to the coordinator, ICCS, and all CHOICE partners for three years of collaboration. CHOICE showed that sustainable food systems need more than climate solutions: they need an understanding of people, and science that everyone can access and use. 

 

🌱 Explore CHOICE's results at www.climatechoice.eu 

CHOICE received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101081617.