Opportunities and Barriers to Achieving Transitions in UK Energy and Materials Use - The Role of Publics, Society and Decision-Makers

The UK Government has an ambitious target of reducing CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050, and energy demand reduction will have to play a major part in meeting this goal. While traditional research on mitigation of carbon emissions has focused on direct consumption of energy (how we supply energy, what types of fuel we use, and how we use them etc.), the role that materials and products might play in energy demand reduction is far less well studied. One third of the world's energy is used in industry to make products, such as buildings, infrastructure, vehicles and household goods. Most of this energy is expended in producing the key stock materials with which we create modern lifestyles - steel, cement, aluminium, paper, and polymers - and we are already very efficient in producing them. A step change in reducing the energy expended by UK industry can therefore only come about if we are able to identify new ways of designing, using, and delivering products, materials and services.

Before firm recommendations can be made to decision-makers regarding the combined technical and social feasibility of new products and material strategies, a fundamental set of research questions will need to be addressed. These concern how various publics will respond to innovative proposals for product design, governance and use. For example, more energy efficient products may need to operate differently or look very different, while a significant shift from an ownership model to a service delivery model (e.g., direct car ownership to car clubs and rental) can also deliver considerable material efficiency and energy demand reduction. Will members of the wider public and key decision-makers welcome, oppose, or actively drive such supply chain innovations, and what are the implications of knowledge about public views for decision-makers in the corporate and government sector? Understanding the answers to these questions is the main focus of this project.

The research led by Cardiff University, and partnered with the Green Alliance, will combine qualitative and quantitative social science methodologies - in particular expert interviews and workshops, deliberative research and a (GB) national survey. The project has 4 phases, spanning a 45 month period. Work Package 1 involves initial work with UK INDEMAND partners, and interviews with industry and policy representatives, to identify the assumptions being made about people and society in key pathways for materials energy demand reduction. Work Package 2 involves four workshops - held in Edinburgh, Cardiff, London and a rural location - where members of the public will deliberate the identified pathways to change. In Work Package 3 we will conduct a nationally representative survey of 1,000 members of the British public, further exploring public perspectives on ways of designing and changing our use of materials.

A particularly innovative aspect of the project is a set of targeted policy engagement activities (in Work Package 4) where we will hold workshops, interviews and other direct stakeholder involvement, exploring the implications of the findings about public views with key decision-makers in UK businesses, policy and the political sphere (including Parliamentarians through the Green Alliance's Climate Leadership programme for MPs). Along with the empirical data gathered in Work Packages 1, 2, and 3, the activities in Work Package 4 will allow us to formulate clear recommendations for action on achieving a reduction in UK final energy consumption through bringing knowledge of social barriers and opportunities to bear on governmental policy and industry decision-making about innovative materials and products delivery/use.

Societal and Economic Benefits of the Research

This research will provide findings relating to public and decision-maker attitudes towards engaging with innovative means of using and delivering materials in UK products and services, together with the necessary business models. Findings will assist evidence-based decision-making and policy in respect of developing strategies within policy, industry, communities and third sectors for achieving low carbon transitions with improved materials use. Ultimately, the project could contribute to improved quality of life and economic vibrancy of the UK through the increased uptake of sustainable lower carbon intensity products, technologies and the innovative business models needed to foster their uptake. The research will provide direct benefit to policy and industry users by providing recommendations for action on materials and products delivery and use, and how this can be enabled through bringing knowledge of social barriers and opportunities to bear on decision-making. The research will also create important new linkages between the social sciences, engineering and natural sciences, adding to the UK's interdisciplinary knowledge economy in energy demand reduction.

Given the twin policy priorities of a low carbon transition and sustainable economic development, and the role that end use energy demand reduction through different products and services will have to play in both of these, it is anticipated that there will be a large number of key beneficiaries throughout the UK. These include, government and policy representatives (e.g. DECC, DEFRA, BIS, Welsh and Scottish Governments, and individual Parliamentarians), government agencies (e.g. Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA), third sector organisations (e.g. Energy Saving Trust, Carbon Trust, WRAP, Building Research Establishment, Scottish Natural Heritage), as well as a wide range of representatives within materials intensive as well as product services industries. In addition European organisations such as EU DG Energy and Research, the European Environment Agency, and EERA will also be able to draw knowledge and have access to project partners and findings. Academics across a number of disciplines (e.g. psychology, sociology, geography, technology studies, engineering, and architecture) will also wish to engage with the research.

We also expect the research to be of interest to wider general public groups, assisting in their own thinking about transitioning their everyday energy use. Accordingly material for the project detailing all aspects of the research (aims, methods, forms of analysis, working papers, results, policy/industry briefings and final report) will be available from the existing Cardiff University School of Psychology 'Understanding Risk' website (www.understanding-risk.org). Key outputs, including papers and briefings, will also be made publicly available in accessible form from the Green Alliance and UK INDEMAND websites. We will attend the British Science Festival in 2017, organising a day-long exhibition of findings and an evening debate.