Futerra and BEworks, in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), are taking a new approach to “reinventing the wheel” when it comes to low-carbon living.
New report from award-winning consultancy and management consulting firm “ carbon lifestyle wheelsprovides a range of pathways to realize options for curbing emissions from household consumption identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Featuring an 'action wheel', the report maps out possible barriers to sustainable action that need to be removed so that the public can take steps to reduce emissions, which the majority repeatedly wants to do. Through this, I am trying to expose the fallacy of the concept of the gap between values and behavior. enact. For example, the report found that 55 percent of consumers believe that being more sustainable would improve their quality of life, while nearly four in five said they would work with brands to become more sustainable. It emphasizes what you want them to do.
The 60 action areas considered by the IPCC featured in the report all deliver different levels of emissions reductions. While it has been suggested that some actions, such as reducing air travel, eating a more climate-friendly diet, and installing domestic renewable energy systems, have the potential to achieve significant emissions reductions. Other measures, such as recycling, are said to offer broader environmental benefits while reducing carbon by a small amount. .
The report also maps a range of functional, social and emotional benefits that are expected to induce behavioral changes in individuals that can reduce environmental impacts.
The announcement comes after the IPCC said that with policy support, sociocultural choices and behavioral changes can rapidly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions from end-use sectors by at least 5 percent. .
“Driving systemic change requires the power of people,” said Futerra CEO Lucy Shea. “Consumers tell us that changing their lifestyles will make their lives better, not worse. Consumers are looking to brands for help in changing their lifestyles. But we… are stuck in a “moral gap'' between values and actions.
Stephanie de Heer, vice president of marketing and communications at WBCSD, said that with increasing pressure on companies to accelerate their decarbonization efforts, companies should drive sustainable behavioral changes to reduce emissions and improve commercial performance. He added that it should be recognized that both economic and economic benefits can be achieved.
“With 88% of consumers actively seeking out brands that support sustainable choices, we have powerful levers for success,” she said. “Marketers can now proactively help change consumer behavior to drive the transition to sustainability, enabling significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at a societal level. This is a call to action and a huge opportunity for us to act.”
BEworks CEO Warda Malik said the launch of Carbon Lifestyle Wheels came after too many well-intentioned campaigns and policies failed.
“Funds are being spent without the expected returns, and time and hope are running out,” he said. “To drive change, we need to uncover new insights. Our role is to uncover the frameworks that bring hidden psychological and behavioral barriers to action to the surface.
“The key to developing more impactful solutions is to understand both the environmental and psychological barriers that impede action. This is what is missing in the development of strategies, campaigns and policies. That's what drives us towards a positive climate outlook.”
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