How Behavioral Science Can Help Tackle Climate Change
Episode 4
Behavioral Science and Climate Change
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EPISODE 4: Behavioral Science and Climate Change
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New Behaviors
Climate change is a scientific issue—science explains how and why mankind is causing the planet to heat up and informs our responses in addressing the problem. It is also a problem of human behavior, says Sophie Attwood, senior behavioral scientist at the World Resources Institute’s Better Buying Lab.
“Almost all human behavior has an environmental footprint attached: what you eat, how you travel, what you wear,” she explains. “These products and services serve human needs, so unless we change how people consume them, we’re not going to see a change in how businesses act.”
Education and awareness of the climate crisis is only the first step in addressing the issue—encouraging greener choices by making them more accessible is key to behavioral change
Changing public behavior
Behavioral science in relation to climate change tries to understand how people make decisions and encourages them to make more sustainable choices. When people think about the link between behavior and the environment, it is the most visible and obvious signs of harmful activities that they focus on—smoking chimneys and oil spills, for example. They do not consider some of the biggest contributors to climate change, such as the food we eat, our daily commute, or the way we heat and power our homes.
You might think, then, that giving people more information about the causes of climate change and how to tackle them would be the most important thing to do. Not necessarily, Ms. Attwood says. “It’s only partly true that behavior is based on awareness. A lot of it is habit-based. Making people aware of a problem can increase its recognition, but it’s not always the best way of changing habits or unconscious behaviors.”
Dr. Sam Gardner, head of climate change and sustainability at ScottishPower, agrees, saying: “I’m not sure facts and figures are the key to unlocking a shift in public behavior. Ultimately, it will be a combination of people’s intrinsic values and aligning societal norms. The infrastructure must be in place to enable climate-friendly actions. We have to make it easy for people. No one makes decisions in a vacuum.”
“The infrastructure must be in place to enable climate-friendly actions. We have to make it easy for people.”
The expectation shift
Recent developments globally provide a more encouraging background for individuals to act on climate than ever before. The cost of renewable energy has fallen dramatically in the past few years, governments around the world—from the U.K. to China, South Korea, and Japan—have set net-zero targets, and the current U.S. administration has committed to an all-encompassing climate policy. “There has been a huge shift in corporate and government expectations—no one is working on their own now. There is huge confidence that this agenda will move forward faster now,” Dr. Gardner says.
In turn, this change in attitude in boardrooms and the halls of government has in part come about because of strong public support for action to tackle climate change. In a recent UN survey of 1.2 million people worldwide, described as the largest climate study ever, almost two-thirds said that climate change was a global emergency. The poll also showed that people supported more comprehensive climate policies to respond to the challenges.
But while this is encouraging news, Ms. Attwood points out that what people say and what they do are completely different things. “It’s called the Intention-Behavior gap. Sometimes you need to bypass that and influence what people do without them knowing.”
The most effective way to change how people act is to create barriers to the things you do not want them to do and reward those that you do, Attwood says. “You need to understand the reasons people act and target those levers. At the same time, you need to identify the problem behavior for a particular product and tackle that.”
One of the biggest contributors to global CO2 emissions is the beef industry, she says. “If it were a country, it would be the third-biggest contributor, behind China and the U.S., so we really need people to eat less beef. But rather than telling people they shouldn’t eat beef, which many people like, we should try to make plant-based food more appealing. It’s a bit like traditional marketing in many ways.” It need not be complicated. When the number of vegetarian options was doubled in three university cafés, sales of vegetarian dish increased by 70%, and meat sales decreased, Ms. Attwood says in a blog for the World Resources Institute.
The post-pandemic view
As the world seeks to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, the focus of many governments on “building back better” offers an opportunity to encourage greener behavior on a large scale, backed by both legislative levers and a public mandate to act, says Dr. Gardner.
“The fact that we have net-zero legislation means we have a ‘North Star’ that we cannot deviate from. The response to Covid must be linked to that,” he explains. “Those of us who talk about climate change must be clear that we have a plan and that the transition creates economic prospects, creates jobs, and embraces public health and the local environment. We need to explain that this is not just about protecting future generations, but a better quality of life for all of us today. Public support for new technologies and behavioral changes is vital. It’s not enough on its own, but it will be critical to their adoption.”