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Behaviour change – actions people can take to reduce the amount of energy they consume – plays a central role in reaching net zero, especially for those with high carbon footprints.
Without changes in energy consumption (using and wasting less), travel habits (increasing public transport use and active travel), and the balance of food types in our diets, net zero by 2050 will be impossible to achieve: one recent estimate suggests around 60% of the emissions cuts required to reach net zero will come through behavioural changes in some form.
But the idea of ‘changing behaviours’ has often had a turbulent relationship with climate policy and campaigns. Across diet, travel and energy use, there are differing levels of support for changing behaviours, and differing levels of willingness to do so.
There’s no shortage of analyses into the sorts of behaviour changes that can reduce emissions. And its long been understood that consumption emissions are strongly skewed towards those with higher disposable incomes.
But politically, the topic remains controversial, and because of the huge variation in the size of individual carbon footprints across society, there is no one-size-fits-all message on shifting behaviours on the path to net zero.
This thread captures insights relating to people’s willingness to make behavioural changes in pursuit of net zero, as well as resources that provide guidance on how to communicate and campaign around shifting behaviours.
In new research written up in a commentary for The Conversation, the risk of political leaders’ high carbon lifestyles could undermine the credibility of the messages they convey on climate change. Whilst the research focuses specifically on political leaders, the same arguments apply to a wide range of individuals and organisations who deliver climate messages (including the climate movement itself).
“The public fully understand political leaders have tight schedules and their activities inevitably involve plenty of high-carbon activities such as air travel.
But people are also very sensitive to the details of each specific situation and alert to signals and behavioural cues from leaders. Context is crucial.
If our leaders are not perceived as fully committed, will they be able to take the public with them as the need for behaviour change becomes more and more pressing?”
This short animation from Climate Outreach makes the case that ‘behaviour change’ and ‘system change’ are not mutually exclusive, as some advocates suggest.
Instead, they should be seen as ‘two sides of the same coin’, with individual action part of broader engagement with climate change and one way in which people can build a sense of agency and ‘efficacy’ (that their actions matter).
In a first for the annual Emissions Gap report, a chapter on emissions from lifestyle changes concluded that behavioural changes – from those with high carbon footprints – are essential for bridging the gap between current emissions levels and those consistent with the UN Paris agreement
The graphic below shows how skewed emissions are across different income groups
The centre for Climate Change & Social Transformations (CAST) carried out a set of global surveys with over 3000 participants from Brazil, China, Sweden and the UK in 2020 (the survey is repeated annually)
Large majorities from across borders, age divides and financial backgrounds were positive on the need for action on climate change.
Click through to the CAST dashboard to filter the results further.