Abstract
Aotearoa New Zealand has a target of net-zero carbon by 2050, and many councils, businesses and communities aspire to achieve this by an earlier date. A critical part of this transition will be greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation in high-emitting sectors such as industry, construction and agriculture. Yet individuals, households and businesses can also make a considerable contribution by adopting low-carbon behaviours and technologies. For these groups, this publication explores the questions: Which behavioural changes (including new technology adoption) are most impactful in reducing emissions? And how can these changes be best encouraged?
As academics at the University of Otago, we were commissioned by the Dunedin City Council to help answer these questions through providing insights from academic research to help inform their Zero Carbon programme. With DCC’s permission we have generalised the findings so that this report is relevant to any council, government agency or other organisation or group interested in low-carbon transitions. In developing this report, we have drawn from numerous academic papers, with a particular focus on review papers which compare findings from multiple studies internationally. Most of the papers that we cite are publicly accessible and can be found following the links in the References section. Section 2 of this report briefly outlines the types of behaviour change and/or actions that can have the highest impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with a main focus on carbon dioxide reductions. Section 3 lays out some general principles for effective behaviour change and discusses how to build on existing widespread support for climate action. Section 4 discusses how to motivate engagement in community initiatives and encourage the spread of low-carbon behaviours in society. Section 5 outlines effective interventions for adopting low-carbon mobility for households and businesses. Section 6 discusses interventions to encourage low-carbon shifts in energy and buildings. Section 7 offers some guidance for councils, government agencies, businesses or organisations on developing an action plan for encouraging such changes.