HOusehold Preferences for reducing greenhouse gas Emission in four European High Income Countries

Main message: Households are willing to change their consumption patterns to achieve the 1.5°C goal - but voluntary household action alone is unlikely to lead to substantial reduction sufficient to reach the goal; thus, additional forced actions are needed Detailed messages: 1. By means of choosing among the suggested consumption changes in the HOPE climate game, households demonstrate that they on an individual and voluntary basis are willing to change their patterns of consumption to the extent that a 25 % reduction goal is reached. 2. However, to reach a 50% reduction goal, the outcome of the HOPE climate game demonstrate that policies aimed at promoting collective actions among all households are needed, since when choosing on an individual and voluntary basis mostly moderate lifestyle changes with limited greenhouse gas mitigation effect are preferred. 3. Moderate consumption changes relating to food ? such as buying less meat and buying more local and organic food - have the highest willingness for implementation, but are addressed only to a limited degree in current climate policies. 4. Households are willing to reduce private car mobility when good public transportation alternatives are in place, but are less willing to reduce long-haul air trips on an individual and voluntary basis. 5. Rather than taking decisions on consumption changes out of pure economical reasoning, households consider factors from a complex reality - including personal values, lifestyles and habits, as well as being guided by structural factors such as renting or owning your home. 6. Informing about the health co-benefits increase households? willingness to accept the proposed consumption changes, an effect that was particularly demonstrated in the HOPE climate game for the cases of housing and food consumption changes. 7. Current climate policies in the four investigated high-income countries (France, Germany, Sweden and Norway) are largely market-based and aimed at improving efficiency of products and changing patterns - not levels - of consumption 8. There is a mismatch between current climate policy objectives and actual patterns of living and practices of household consumption, in which households specifically call for stronger government intervention in high mitigation potential areas ? such as air mobility and food consumption - that are now receiving minor policy focus 9. There appears to be policy space for increased demand-side mitigation efforts by means of either more frequently applying command-and-control measures aimed at high emission consumption areas, or - if a market-based policy approach is to deliver on emission reductions - present more scope for people to respond (e.g. more choices in transport modes, stronger subsidies of climate friendly consumption options, higher tax and high-emission consumption options), or mixing the two options. 10. There are only minor differences in household preferences with respect to consumption changes in-between the four investigated countries, showing a potential for developing more common EU policies on pushing private consumption for collective consumption changes aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Prosjektet har fått omfattende oppmerksomhet i media bl.a. gjennom flere TV oppslag, og resultatene fra prosjektet er tatt inn i en rapport utgitt av Miljødirektoratet med anbefalinger til kommunesektoren om hvordan kommunene kan bidra i arbeidet med å omstille Norge til et lavutslipssamfunn.

Due to expectations of more ambitious GHG mitigation goals to be agreed on internationally in the future, climate policy will have to target households. Households in high-income-countries influence some 50 % of GHG emissions. Thus, targeting them in climate policies implies including emissions embedded in private consumption, which so far has largely been outside the scope of current climate policies. The EU roadmap for a competitive low carbon economy calls for reducing GHG emissions by 80-95% until 2050. Thus, we apply a long-term goal of reducing household GHG emissions in the range of 50 % by 2050 compared with 1990, in which we will develop possible pathways for households to contribute to reach this goal. The HOPE project will generate new knowledge in three areas 1) the drivers behind current household emission, 2) households - choices to achieve imposed GHG reduction targets; 3) economic costs & benefits as well as health co-benefits of each choice. The four study countries offer different contexts in climate policy, GHG-emission profiles and energy supply. We study a representative urban household sample in each country. The study comprises three stages: 1) A household interview survey including the assessment of the current household footprint of direct and indirect GHG emissions. 2) An on-site simulation, in which household will be guided through a GHG reduction simulation of 60 GHG saving options. For each behavioral change, the resulting savings (GHG reduction), costs and health co-benefits will be shown. 3) A semi-structured qualitative follow-up interview addressing household views on potential barriers and motivation for the measures chosen in stage 2 will be applied to a carefully chosen subsample based on the results of stages 1 and 2. Engaging with policy-makers from the start we will develop possible innovations in current climate policy regimes at EU, national and local levels of governance to support households in their consumption choices.