Leadership and climate change - the role of leading by example to promote low-carbon behaviour

We often hear calls for "leadership" to address the climate crisis. Take David Attenborough's speech at the 2018 UN climate conference (COP24) where he said: "Leaders of the world, you must lead. The continuation of civilisations and the natural world upon which we depend is in your hands." But the precise meaning of "leadership" - what leaders should actually do - is rarely defined. My research focusses on one crucial but under-researched aspect of leadership: leading by example with low-carbon behaviour.

What would happen if politicians, celebrities and business leaders made visible changes to their own lifestyles by flying less, eating less meat, improving the efficiency of their homes, and driving electric cars. Would others follow their example, and what signals would it send about their commitment to tackling climate change? These are the questions my research seeks to answer. The ERSC fellowship will allow me to develop the research and take it to a wide audience, informing leaders themselves about how their behavioural choices may influence others, and giving the public new information about what they should expect from climate leaders.

My PhD research has already produced some fascinating insights. I conducted focus groups with members of the public and found that they generally approve of leaders who "walk the talk". But they are also ruthless in their scrutiny of leaders' actions and motives. I also interviewed UK Members of Parliament, because they are the leaders who make decisions about climate change that affect everyone. The MPs said they wanted to lead by example in principle, but said it was difficult in practice because it might look like "virtue signalling", and their voters might not like it.

To test these initial results, I conducted an experiment with 1,300 participants. Half of them were presented with a leader who had changed their own lifestyle to be low-carbon. The other half were presented with a leader who had not yet changed their lifestyle. Both leaders were strongly in favour of tackling climate change, but the leader who walked the talk was viewed as much more credible, more likeable, more trustworthy, and more effective. Crucially, people who were presented with the walking-the-talk leader said they were more willing to change their own lifestyles to include low-carbon behaviours. This shows that leading by example encourages others to follow suit - a potentially crucial discovery for bringing about rapid low-carbon behaviour change.

Another strand of my research backs this up. I conducted a survey of people who had signed a pledge to stop flying for a year because of climate change. Most of them said they had been influenced to stop flying by someone else who had already stopped, for instance a friend or family member. But the effects were stronger if the other person was a high-profile figure such as a celebrity or a politician. Not surprisingly, many people said they had been influenced by Greta Thunberg.

My research shows the power of leaders to influence others and steer society to more sustainable lifestyles by helping to change what is considered normal behaviour - known as "social norms". The ESRC fellowship will help me to publish these findings and take them to a wide audience. People are already very interested in the topic, as shown by the fierce ongoing debates about whether individuals should act on climate or wait for "systems change". I can't wait to get started!