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

The impact of management practices on employee productivity: A field experiment with airline captains

This paper draws on the findings of a field experiment with Virgin Atlantic Airways which showed that changes to the behaviour of pilots brought about through monitoring, target setting and small incentives helped bring about fuel savings and, as a result, large cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. 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 »

Are smart meters good for UK households?

How realistic are the predicted savings to household energy bills from installing a smart meter? And how robust is the evidence behind the figures? Greer Gosnell and Daire McCoy investigate, in the second of two posts on smart meters. read more »