Key bottlenecks to sustainable behaviour include a lack of availability and awareness. For instance, individuals may lack renewable energy options or charging stations for electric vehicles. Barriers can also include structural issues such as the misalignment of incentives between tenants and landlords. Policymakers must carefully consider policies to be able to overcome such issues, such as tenants' access to community solar energy options.
Greening household and firm behaviour
Governments can provide an enabling environment for sustainable household and firm behaviour. The OECD provides unique insights into the drivers of environmental behaviours and the measures governments can put in place to overcome identified barriers to more sustainable choices.
Key messages
Affordability and convenience are important factors for encouraging sustainable choices, especially around transport and food. Income and environmental concern are important factors in many decisions. However, environmental concern alone does not appear to be sufficient to change certain behaviours, such as eating red meat or using a car. By increasing the cost-effectiveness and the convenience of sustainable alternatives, policymakers can increase their appeal to households and firms.
Respondents systematically express less support for taxes and fees than for measures that make sustainable alternatives more affordable, such as subsidies. Policy complementarity is an important consideration, as households’ acceptance of and ability to respond to tax-based measures depends on the alternatives available. In addition to providing sustainable alternatives, policymakers can complement the rollout of taxes and fees by recycling the revenues these instruments generate. For instance, tax revenues can be used to fund improvements in public transport.
Certain environmental behaviours go hand in hand. For instance, people who report frequently eating seasonal food are also more likely to report that they do not waste food. Complementary incentives can reward environmental action in one domain by providing incentives for action in another domain. For example, those who shop with reusable containers could receive discounts on sustainable food items.
About
The OECD Environmental Policies and Individual Behaviour Change (EPIC) surveys explore the drivers behind household behaviour and how policies may affect decisions in key consumption areas. Following two previous rounds of the EPIC survey in 2008 and 2011, the OECD implemented a third round in 2022 to more than 17,000 households across nine countries: Belgium, Canada, Israel, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The third round addressed household behaviour in four key areas: energy, transport, waste and food consumption. The third round of the survey came at a time of interlocking global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, geo-political tensions and tumultuous energy and commodity markets.
Context
Among competing priorities, concerns about the climate and environment come after the economy and personal safety
EPIC survey respondents report the most concern about personal safety and economic issues. Concern for climate change and other environmental issues ranks third of the six issues explored. Women, older individuals and those with higher education tend to express greater concern for climate change and the environment.
Most households would make at least some lifestyle compromises to benefit the environment
Targeting behaviour change relies on a well-developed understanding of public perception and how individuals react to and interact with different policy measures.
65% of EPIC survey respondents are willing to make personal compromises to their lifestyles for the benefit of the environment. However, almost as many (63%) feel that these compromises should not mpact them financially and therefore are unwilling to pay extra. This is especially true of lower-income households.
Some habits are harder to change than others
Nearly 70% of households surveyed report eating meat at least once a week. Approximately one third of these respondents eat meat several times a week. Results also indicate that these habits are similar between households with high and low environmental concerns.
Similarly, only 54 % of households report that they would drive less frequently if more public transit options were available. These results suggest that comprehensive policies that include a combination of measures may be needed to significantly increase sustainable behaviours.
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