Virtually all household choices – ranging from daily routines, such as what to eat and how to get to work, to less frequent decisions, like how to heat our homes and whether to buy a car – affect the climate and the environment. While the potential of individual and household choices to reduce environmental impacts is clear, the increasing urgency of climate change and other environmental crises illustrates the challenge governments face in realising this potential. How sustainable are household choices and how does behaviour vary across different domains? What is preventing us from making more sustainable choices and how can governments help overcome the barriers?
How Green is Household Behaviour?
Green Talks LIVE
- Date
- 13 June 2023
Watch the replay
On 13 June, the OECD report How Green is Household Behaviour? Sustainable Choices in a Time of Interlocking Crises was launched during our webinar. The report provides an overview of the results from the 2022 OECD Survey on Environmental Policies and Individual Behaviour Change (EPIC).
With comparable data on household environmental behaviour across nine countries (Belgium, Canada, France, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) and four thematic areas (energy, transport, waste and food), the EPIC Survey provides unique insights into the drivers of household choices and the measures governments can put in place to make them more sustainable.
The webinar included a presentation of the key findings by Jo Tyndall, Director, Environment Directorate, OECD; Shardul Agrawala, Head of Division, Environment and Economy Integration Division, Environment Directorate, OECD and Katherine Hassett, Environmental Economist, Environment and Economy Integration Division, Environment Directorate, OECD; including insights Felix Creutzig, Head of Land-use, Infrastructures and Transport Group at the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change; Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC's AR6 in Working Group III and Kimberly Cochran, Chief of the Sustainable Materials Branch in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery on the role of demand side measures in managing climate and environment challenges.
Speakers
Jo Tyndall
Director, OECD Environment Directorate
Shardul Agrawala
Head of Division, Environment and Economy Integration Division, OECD Environment Directorate
Katherine Hassett
Environmental Economist, Environment and Economy Integration Division, OECD Environment Directorate
Felix Creutzig
Head of Land-use, Infrastructures and Transport Group, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change
Kimberly Cochran
Chief of the Sustainable Materials Branch, Office of Resource Conservation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
