Scholars
Aitor Marcos
University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
Based in
Spain
Europe
Aitor Marcos is an assistant professor of Marketing and Market Research at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU and an affiliated researcher at the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability. In his work, Aitor uses surveys and experiments to explore how social norms, beliefs, preferences, and structural factors influence consumer behavior, business decisions, and bipartisan support for climate policies.
As a consumer researcher and ecological economist, Aitor focuses on distinguishing sustainable consumption from green consumerism. He also investigates the role of corporate greenwashing and techno-optimism in conflating these two fundamentally different approaches to sustainable consumption.

Country(ies) of Specialty
Spain United StatesFocus areas of expertise
Greenwashing Climate policy and politics Behavioral actionPublications
Articles
Marcos, Aitor, et al. “Partisan winds: Group-level polarization and issue-framing propel attitudes about local wind farms.” Energy Research & Social Science 119 (2025): 103848.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103848
Hartmann, Patrick, et al. “Perspectives: Advertising and climate change–Part of the problem or part of the solution?.” International Journal of Advertising 42.2 (2023): 430-457.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2022.2140963
Marcos, Aitor, José M. Barrutia, and Patrick Hartmann. “Carbon tax acceptance in a polarized society: bridging the partisan divide over climate policy in the US.” Climate Policy 23.7 (2023): 885-900. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2161981
Hartmann, Patrick, Aitor Marcos, and Jose M. Barrutia. “Carbon tax salience counteracts price effects through moral licensing.” Global Environmental Change 78 (2023): 102635.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102635
Hartmann, Patrick, Aitor Marcos, and Vanessa Apaolaza. “Past, present, and future of research on corporate social responsibility advertising.” International Journal of Advertising 42.1 (2023): 87-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2022.2121902
Marcos, Aitor, Patrick Hartmann, and Jose M. Barrutia. “Toward the Implementation of SDG12 to Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns: Opportunities and Neglected Issues.” Handbook of Sustainability Science in the Future: Policies, Technologies and Education by 2050. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023. 1353-1376. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04560-8_159
Marcos, Aitor, Jose M. Barrutia, and Patrick Hartmann. “Moral licensing, identity and eco-leadership: Can public managers’ support for a green recovery be undermined?.” Public Money & Management 43.4 (2023): 321-330. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2022.2155361