INTERVIEW - Science-Policy Collaboration for Sustainability
Behaven — Hi Rosa, could you please introduce yourself and talk about your area of expertise?
Yes, of course. I lead the team on sustainable lifestyles at the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), an international non-profit Think and Do tank based in Germany that works with businesses, policymakers, partner organisations and civil society to promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
The CSCP’s team consists of over 60 people and our aim is to enable a good life for all within the planetary boundaries. We address this challenge from the perspective of the citizens which means we look at both the role of the individual as part of everyday decisions and behaviours, but also at the broader system within which each of these decisions takes place. And over the past years, we have conducted more than 70 projects here in Germany, across Europe, and also on an international level in all areas of lifestyle, like eating, travelling, living and consuming.
Our members come from very diverse backgrounds. We have social scientists, but also lawyers and engineers. And they come from all over the world. Several from Germany and Europe obviously, but also from Pakistan, Brazil, Ghana, Indonesia and so on; it provides a very international perspective to a complex problem, which I think helps a lot.
How do you use behavioural science in the context of sustainable lifestyles?
Behavioural science is the backbone of a big part of the work we do. We use behavioural insights to understand what people actually do at home, what kind of knowledge they have about certain sustainability topics, and also whether they actually translate this into real action.
To give you an example, companies and governments in different countries have failed for many years now to get people to return their old smartphones - that probably sit in their drawers. Here we need to question whether this is because people are lazy, because they might want to give the old phone to a family member at some point, or because they are concerned about the data that's still on it. We need to understand these reasons before we actually design an intervention, because only then do we know whether it's the surrounding system that is the issue, or if it's anything closer to the individual, which then might be solved with a behaviour change intervention, like a nudge or targeted communication. In this context, we work with the European Commission and with different foundations to bring together companies, scientists and the third sector in our consumer interaction panels which explore ways to support and mainstream circular behaviours.
Behavioural science is considered by some as being less impactful in driving societal change when compared to changes at the systemic level such as within governments. What is your opinion on this?
I disagree with the notion that behavioural science doesn’t contribute enough to the environment and sustainability. Taking the example of the European Green deal, currently our most ambitious sustainability framework, there are plenty of goals that can only be achieved with the support of behavioural science. For example, moving consumers towards plant-based diets with less red meat or processed meat will never work without behavioural science. Also, reducing food waste on the household level is something that requires behavioural interventions. Another example would be introducing more sustainable food packaging which will often be linked to the correct recycling behaviours of consumers.
None of the goals around energy use, mobility and waste separation will be reached without behaviour change interventions. Behaviour change is often not a standalone solution to the challenge, but the moment humans come into the picture, it becomes an important part of it.
In your opinion, what are the challenges and barriers that need to be overcome to encourage the development of pro-environmental behaviours? Have you identified any specific challenges that make it harder to change behaviours?
In my view, there are two challenges that need to be overcome for sustainability to be implemented through behaviour change. Firstly, we still encounter a lot of people in important positions who stick to the outdated idea that technology alone will solve our problems. And such an approach, which overlooks the complexity of human behaviour can only fail in my opinion. We need a more differentiated and realistic understanding of change processes wherein the messy and often irrational human behaviours are taken into account.
Secondly, most people are currently lacking the right skills for applying behaviour change knowledge in sustainability contexts. We run capacity building programmes for NGOs in the sustainability field called the ‘Academy of Change’. This shows us very clearly that there is a high need and a high appetite for such skills. But such hands-on training is still not widely provided.
On the other hand, what would you say are some of the behavioural science methods that you found to be especially effective in encouraging pro-environmental behaviours?
What makes behavioural science so fascinating and at the same time so difficult is that usually, no solution is a ‘one size fits all’. However, there are some powerful tools to consider:
Social norms are very powerful. We can use them in different forms to bring the behaviour of a few, closer to that of the majority.
Nudges can be great and cheap to bring across change without too much effort, but also then the change is often not too radical.
We have gamification that works wonders for the digital generation.
I would expect that, in the coming years, a number of great behaviour change interventions will come by means of digital tools. Through apps on smartphones that remind us to do a certain behaviour at the right time and the right place, or via improved feedback or social comparison supported by artificial intelligence. Combining behaviour change and digitalization is something we have very high up on our agenda.
What are the tools that you put in place to measure the impact of your interventions and can you actually measure their impact on the long term?
I think that's a very important question and one that really requires a lot of work. We always try to measure the success of our interventions, and we do it by comparing the baseline from before and after or by having A/B trials. But of course, we're also aware that it's often very costly and very difficult to measure behaviour. It becomes far more challenging if you want to measure long term behaviour change. We have done it in a few examples where we went back to the people who were part of the intervention and asked them after six months or a year, to which extent they were maintaining their new behaviours. However, what’s challenging is the current funding landscape because very often projects run for a certain amount of time and after that, it becomes quite difficult to still keep up these efforts. Long term behaviour change does need more work and it would be good to see more of it in the near future.
What initiatives could also be implemented to coordinate efforts, especially among policymakers and scientists?
I think to solve the climate and sustainability crisis, we need to act fast and we need both policymakers and scientists to act together more closely. We need all insights that science can provide, and we need policymakers to use this wisely when designing policy interventions, but also when deciding on new funding priorities. Policymakers on the local, national and EU levels can benefit tremendously from including behaviour change elements into their work, and scientists can support the right usage as well as evaluation of such tools.
Lastly, do you have any suggestions of experts, key papers or books on behavioural science and sustainability that you would like to share with our readers?
Yes, of course. ‘The Behavioural Scientist’, is one of my favourite newsletters, I receive a wonderful selection of recent behavioural science publications into my mailbox once a week. It covers many different areas of behaviour change, like the pandemic, sustainability or health. I also recommend a podcast on psychology issues called ‘No Stupid Questions’ which is really fun and informative.
The ‘Behavioral Scientist’ website and newsletter: http://www.behavioralscientist.org
The ‘No Stupid Questions’ podcast: https://freakonomics.com/series/nsq