Changing Behaviour

The Changing Behaviours research group provides insight on why and how people make decisions on climate-related activities, with a view to helping researchers, policymakers and businesses identify effective interventions to promote environmentally-friendly behaviours among citizens and firms.

Researchers from this group explore the behavioural mechanisms on which policymakers and businesses can capitalize to improve the private provision of environmental goods (such as switching to environmentally friendly practices and technologies) at least cost. They aim to identify opportunities to apply behavioural and experimental economics to inform environmental policies and practices.

To this end, researchers from this group study attitudes to new business practices, different consumer behaviours, novel technologies and environmental risks. More broadly, they also explore the context of the political economy in which decisions by individuals in the public and private sector – consumers, workers and decision-makers – are made. These insights can help researchers, policymakers and businesses to identify effective interventions to promote climate-friendly decisions.

Research

Delegation and public pressure in a threshold public goods game

Many public goods cannot be provided directly by interested parties (e.g. citizens), as they entail decision-making at nested hierarchical scales: at a lower level individuals elect a representative, while at … read more »

Submission to the inquiry by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee on ‘Heatwaves: Adapting to Climate Change’

This submission to the Environmental Audit Committee's inquiry on ‘Heatwaves: Adapting to Climate Change’ focuses on the importance of communicating with the public to raise awareness of the increasing incidence of heatwaves. read more »

Interview about carbon offsetting for air travel

Michal Nachmany talks on the Victoria Derbyshire show (46 mins in) about why carbon offsetting is a good way to deal with essential travel, but the real solution is in research and development of electric vehicles for short-haul flights and alternative biofuels for longer-distance travel. read more »