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Behaviour Change

Europe Talks Flying: Navigating public opinion on aviation and climate

09 April 2024

Drawing on polling by More in Common of more than 12,000 people and focus groups in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, Europe Talks Flying digs into attitudes towards aviation and climate change, often considered one of the trickiest topics in terms of bringing about behaviour change.

Overall, the picture is one of risk and opportunity.

The risk comes from badly designed campaigns (most people like flying and the idea of ‘flight shame’, prominent as it may be in climate circles, is something that only a minority of the wider population feels or agrees with).

The opportunity lies in the broad-based support for heavily taxing or even banning private jets,  and investing in faster, more affordable train journeys. This would build a platform for introducing policies like a ‘frequent flyer levy‘, which is generally popular and seen as fair (although some of the groups least likely to be impacted by this are the most wary of it).

Crucially (as with carbon footprints in general), it is disposable income rather than concern about climate change that determines the amount people fly.

Focusing on the findings relating to the UK specifically:

  • Low trust in government means voters don’t have faith that the necessary investment in the affordability of train journeys will happen, to allow travellers to switch from short-haul flights. Affordability is the most important consideration when the costs of so many aspects of day-to-day life are unmanageably high.
  • Importantly – in terms of how messages about reducing flying may be received by the audiences of climate campaigns – Progressive Activists are among those most likely to have flown more than five times in
    the last year. Progressive Activists are likely to be actively involved with campaigning on climate change, but perhaps driven by their higher incomes and fewer family responsibilities, are among those who fly the most.
  • There is some limited support for restricting airport expansion, and a general view that airlines should meet the cost for the transition towards low-carbon travel, not customers.

Reference article:

  • Date: 9th April 2024

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The latest from the Behaviour Change timeline:

Opinion Insight 7th October 2024

New study: Political leaders’ actions can inspire behavioural change

New research has revealed that politicians visibly ‘leading by example’ can substantially increase the willingness of members of the UK public to adopt further low-carbon lifestyle changes.

The study looked at over a thousand people’s responses to the examples of  ‘high-profile individuals’ in a nationally representative survey. It found that the vast majority (86%) wanted to see politicians, celebrities and business leaders setting a good example in terms of their climate actions. Citizens were also more willing to adopt low-carbon actions, such as flying less, eating less meat, or driving an electric car if they saw leaders doing the same. At the same time, people’s overall approval of leaders who were setting a strong example improved.

Despite this, further investigation showed that politicians may currently be reluctant to publicise their personal climate-friendly actions due to fear of criticism for virtue signaling, or hypocrisy.

Together the work suggests that rather than pulling off ‘green stunts’, politicians’ consistency of action over time is crucial, and it can also be beneficial if they acknowledge that some changes may be too difficult or costly for everyone to make (such as buying an electric car or installing a heat pump).

From the Climate Community 2nd July 2024

Research paper: Low carbon lifestyles are supported, but are impacted by ‘narratives of delay’

Researchers at the centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) have found widespread public support for low-carbon lifestyles. In workshops, people explored visions of an ideal 1.5°C future:

  • Food norms are seen to be shifting. While vegan diets are still seen as too restrictive, there is strong support for reducing food waste, and support for the adoption of balanced diets that reduce meat consumption, deliver health co-benefits, and local benefits to farmers.
  • The future of shopping and consumption was seen as going ‘full circle back to the 50s’, with less packaging, long-lasting and affordable, with emissions labelling, and a rise in ‘swapping shops’ and the second-hand market.
  • There is a strong desire for fewer cars on the road, infrastructure to support active travel, and electrification of transport. Frequent flyer taxes are seen acceptable in the short term, but people hoped for more efficient air travel in future.
  • Home refurbishment and better housing standards were almost universally positively received – with government support seen as non-negotiable.

However, common ‘narratives of delay’ also punctuated these positive visions, stemming from what the authors identified as three emotional defense mechanisms:

1) Overconfidence in current actions (thinking that small changes have more impact than they actually do)

2) Defensiveness over radical change (despite many lifestyle changes requiring only moderate adjustments for many)

3) Dejection at the scale of the challenge (with fatalism acting as a demotivator for making lifestyle changes)

The paper concludes that:

“Rethinking strategies for public engagement with climate action will be an essential step towards creating a positive, ambitious, fair, sustainable vision of the future that is desperately needed as part of a people-centred approach to tackling climate change”

  • Source: Global Environmental Change
  • Authors: Catherine Cherry, Caroline Verfuerth, Christina Demski
  • Date: 17th June 2024
Opinion Insight 1st July 2024

Ipsos: Most net zero policies have more support than opposition (but support for some has fallen)

Surveys are clear that the British public supports the country’s net zero targets.

When surveys focus on specific policies (like low traffic neighbourhoods, for example), then a range of wider considerations come into play, and unsurprisingly, support for individual policies like this tends to be lower than support for net zero overall. Although, as Climate Barometer tracker data underscores, even this policy (presented as divisive in media commentary) has more support than opposition.

And this trend – of most net zero policies having greater support than opposition –  is reflected in a new Ipsos survey.

In nationally representative polling from April 2024, just before the General Election was called, Ipsos reported that:

Support is highest for giving people more assistance to increase the energy efficiency of their homes (76%); frequent flyer levies (62%); and changing product pricing to reflect how environmentally friendly products are (56%).

The least popular policy tested (an exception to the rule of support outweighing opposition) was electric vehicle subsidies (39% support, 41% oppose).

However, while most net zero policies continue to enjoy majority support among Britons, Ipsos report that this support has fallen over the past two years:

Support for ensuring access to sustainable pension funds and increasing vegetarian/vegan options in food provisioning have both fallen by 8 points since 2022, support for creating low traffic neighbourhoods is down 7 points, and support for higher taxes on red meat and dairy products and electric vehicle subsidies are both down 6 ppts.

Labour and Lib Dem 2019 voters support all policies, while past Conservative voters only support a few: frequent flyer levies, changing product pricing, ensuring access to sustainable pensions, and enabling people to make energy efficiency improvements to their home.

The polling also suggested a softening of the intensity with which people report feeling worried about climate change (likely a reflection of the difficulty of maintaining a strong sense of worry about an issue that can’t be resolved in the short term), although Ipsos reported that overall levels of concern remained very high,

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