Adopting green choices and behaviours

Question 1

Key Points

Accepted Answer

1. A significant proportion of UK emissions now come from buildings and transport. Accelerated action in these sectors to meet net zero will require the adoption of technologies, including but not limited to heat pumps and electric vehicles, but also other changes to behaviour and ‘green choices’ from people.

2. The framing of these ‘choices’ matters; people do not have access to the same choices as a result of factors including the provision of infrastructure, inequality and poverty. Cost is only one consideration and should not be the only justification as to why people should prioritise the greener choice. Framing choices in terms of the wider justifications such as convenience, comfort or health can improve public support, but the effects of framing alone are small.

3. There is a lack of information available on what green choices are, what works, what is needed and what is being done to reduce emissions, allowing mis- and disinformation to spread. The government has an important role to play in getting trustworthy and reliable information to people.

4. Provision of information is a necessary foundation but is only partially effective for changing behaviour. Policy should also consider how to create an environment that enables green choices.

5. Engaging with the public would benefit from considering four key steps: i) building public awareness, ii) securing public agreement, iii) ensuring equitable access and iv) enabling adoption (i.e. citizen action towards low-carbon choices).

6. Visible leadership and a cohesive ‘joined up’ approach are needed to foster a sense of fairness, as well as collective action and contribution, which are powerful motivators for change.

Question 2

Barriers, incentives and disincentives

Accepted Answer

7. When considering ‘green choices’ for buildings and transport, cost is a major barrier but not the only one. For buildings, heat pumps represent a major financial decision and long-term commitment (EPHA, 2024). Cost combines with factors such as issues with infrastructure (e.g. lack of space for the outside unit), access to suppliers and fitters, disruption during installation and perceived complexity of maintenance to result in consumers defaulting to gas boilers.

8. It is not currently clear that heat pumps will save people money, and the payback period will be unacceptably long to many (Kijo-Kleczkowska et al.,2023). Benefits to family, community and planet should be explained to encourage their adoption (Chen et al., 2024).

9. Reducing the unit cost of heat pumps increases adoption, as does reductions in running costs, but combining these measures is more effective than tackling them separately (BIT, 2022).

10. Both incentives of the green choice and disincentives of the non-green choice are needed to increase adoption of green choices (Whitmarsh, 2009).

11. For example, public transport must provide a visibly reliable, comfortable and affordable service for it to be adopted. Cities with bus lanes that avoid congestion and have lower total journey costs (time, money, and comfort) relative to cars see wider adoption (LGA, 2020).

12. Luxembourg made all public transport free, but this only led to a 6% increase in users partly because there were relatively few disincentives for car use (Eibinger T. and Fernando S, 2024). Disincentives include clear air zones, making it more expensive to drive, or reallocating space to other road users such as bike or bus lanes, which result in slower car journeys. The London congestion charge resulted in a 39% decrease in cars entering the zone (TFL, 2008), but this was possible thanks to the provision of high-quality public transport (NatCen Social Research, 2020).

13. Car owners see the cost they have already put into their cars as a reason for their continued use to make the most of that investment. Making the other financial, environmental or health costs of transport choices more salient and visible is important to encourage greener choices.

14. There is value in first changing carbon intensive habits. Encouraging small changes incentivised by health or other reasons (e.g. drive five miles fewer each week and to cycle or walk instead (Glazener A., et al., 2022) rather than asking people to make major changes is more likely to be successful.

Question 3

Clear comparable information is part of the solution

Accepted Answer

15. Perceptions of new technologies like heat pumps are ‘fragile’. Negative stories or mis- and dis-information about one net zero measure can impact adoption for other measures.

16. Information is needed but is not enough to change behaviour alone and the provision of information shifts behaviour just 2-3% (Nisa C.F., et al., 2019). Engagement on green choices needs to look beyond just communicating information, potentially using the ‘4As’ model: Awareness, Agreement, Access and Adoption (BIT, 2024; BIT, 2023), one of several models available. Data suggest widespread public awareness and agreement or openness to change (UKERC, 2013; UKERC, 2024), but more investment and focus is needed on enabling access and adoption.

17. As a result of inconsistent or confusing information in the general information landscape it is not clear in most sectors how choices compare in terms of their impacts on emissions. For example, heating contributes approximately 31% to average household emissions (Catapult Energy Systems, 2023) but this is not widely known and actions such as recycling are perceived as more effective at reducing emissions than they are (IPSOS, 2021; IPSOS, 2023). Without clear and credible information, people may falsely believe that one behaviour offsets another (potentially more polluting) behaviour. This is a context ripe for greenwashing (false or misleading claims about the environmental impact of measures or products).

18. Clearer labelling or information about the relative environmental impact of purchases or decisions is required, ideally that unlocks competition between products. Yet, the efficacy of labelling is debated and there are clear limitations of driving action through consumption choices (Majer J. et al., 2022; Hornibrook S. et al., 2013).

Question 4

Interventions and factors for green choices beyond information

Accepted Answer

Leadership and trusted messengers

19. People want leadership on green choices and climate action in general (CCC, 2022). A sense of collective action can be a powerful motivator that requires visible leadership from the top.

20. People are currently distrustful of the government to act on climate change or provide information about it (IPSOS, 2023; DESNZ, 2024) and distrustful of energy companies (Howell, B. 2023). There are certain people who might be trusted messengers on transport, but there are less obvious trusted messengers on heating.

Engagement

21. Public acceptance of net zero policies (including those involving behaviour change) is primarily driven by perceived fairness, particularly procedural (i.e. giving people a say). Backlash against policies, such as ULEZ or the heat pump roll-out in Germany, were largely because the public felt each was imposed on them and did not take account of their needs or situations (CCC, 2023; CAST, 2024).

Timing of interventions

22. There are moments where people are likely to be more open to incentives or interventions (Bas Verplanken et al., 2018). For example, for home heating this is not just when a boiler needs replacing and can include when moving house as people are already making a large investment and the disruption of installation may have less impact.

23. Incentives and disincentives change over time. For car use, more young people are not driving due to a range of disincentives, particularly financial. However, young people expect to start driving when they overcome the cost barrier (RAC Foundation, 2023). A well-timed intervention involving incentives and disincentives can prevent this transition.

Skills and intermediaries

24. Intermediaries play an important role, including in these key moments. People trust the people they know from neighbours, friends and family to local suppliers (Brown D. et al., 2025; Martiskainen, M. and Kivimaa, P., 2019). Delivery of information through trusted contacts is likely to have greater impact than more general messaging (e.g. websites or advertising) (UKERC, 2020) and therefore it is not just consumers or people who might purchase or adopt new technology who will need to be persuaded of the value in green choices but the population at large.

25. For buildings, most areas do not have adequate access to tradespeople trained in heat pumps and the technology is not necessarily trusted at the trade level. Building and engineering firms may see investment in heat pump training, tools and infrastructure as costly, uncompetitive and providing too slow of a return.

Considering how to enable choice

26. One size fits all efforts to encourage green choices (such as national subsidies for technology adoption) are unlikely to be successful alone, and a place-based approach (Carbon Place, n.d) is needed to address local systemic factors that prevent or shape choices such as inequality (including infrastructure inequality (Martiskainen, M. et al., 2023) and poverty (Martiskainen, M., 2024; Kukowski, C.A. & Garnett, E.E., 2024).

27. Attention and infrastructure planning in the transport sector has focused on EV cars, but not all people drive or own cars; this focus is furthering the commitment to a car-based society, rather than committing to a sustainable public transport system.

28. Not all places are equally able to offer green transport choices. Cities have invested in public transport, but in rural areas bus services have dropped by 52% since 2008 (Friends of the Earth, 2023). There are many places and groups for which a car is the only realistic option and is the most expensive option (Martiskainen, M. et al., 2023). For example, if someone works in a rural area and needs to arrive at work at a time not served by public transport.

29. There are a range of cultural factors that can motivate transport choices, with cars being prized as status symbols by some people, although data suggest only a small number of people are really attached to their cars, and most are instead pragmatic about their use (Whitmarsh L. & Frost S., 2024).

30. While individuals make important choices, communities, government and businesses can expand the range of choices available and provide the opportunity for choice. For example, businesses can be flexible to allow different work times to enable people to travel off peak or take a slower mode of transport like cycling.