Climate Change Behaviours Research

Experience of extreme weather affects climate change mitigation and adaptation responses

This research paper “present[s] the first evidence that direct flooding experience can give rise to behavioural intentions beyond individual sustainability actions, including support for mitigation policies, and personal climate adaptation in matters unrelated to the direct experience.”

Embedding the value of the natural environment in decision-making - overcoming barriers and encouraging enablers

Researchers at the University of East Anglia, the University of Exeter and the James Hutton Institute have identified a set of key ‘sticking points’ that they believe inhibit consideration of the natural environment in decision-making. The briefing provides potential solutions. These include the creation of knowledge networks and the use of political ‘windows of opportunity’ such as flood incidents to get messages across. The briefing uses findings from the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, as well as more recent research undertaken by the organisations involved.

Motivating energy conservation in organisations: Smart metering and the emergence and diffusion of social norms

This study presents results from a smart metering intervention that provided detailed individual desk-based energy feedback to help individuals reduce energy in an organisation. Although the intervention was based on the study of individuals, this paper explores how the technology was socialised, and was set to explore changes in normative influence (descriptive and injunctive norms) around specific energy services, before and after the intervention.