Large employers as catalysts for the promotion of low-carbon transport behaviour among employees.

Commuting generates 5% of the UK's year total emissions [1] while business air travel accounted for 154 million Mt CO2 globally in 2019 [2]. Large employers (organisations employing more than 10,000 people) are aware of the impact of transport in the generation of GHG emissions as well as congestion and pollution. They have started to implement policies and interventions to promote low-carbon mobility initiatives among their employees, following trends in public policy. This is a significant opportunity for public/private collaboration to achieve Net Zero by 2050.

But organisational policies do not always translate into changes of behaviours. Previous research suggests that people tend to accept interventions if they perceive it as effective and fair, or if they feel like they had been part of the decision-making process [3], but most of that research focuses on individuals as citizens, following policies established by democratic governments. This research, however, looks at this phenomenon but changing the social relationship, where the ones creating policies are employers (from the public and private sector) intending to alter the behaviour of employees. The goal of this research is to identify which factors contribute the most to making employees adopt low-carbon transport behaviours following policies or interventions established by employers.

Considering the uniqueness of this relationship, the first study will explore whether participatory governance by the employer correlates with higher levels of staff acceptance of policies, and ultimately reduction in carbon emissions. Using Environmental, Social and Governmental data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and other secondary sources, this study will identify patterns between the employer's decision-making practices as established by their governance principles, the types of low-carbon transport interventions implemented and the changes on Scope 3 emissions.

Subsequent studies will explore the topic empirically, using lessons learned from the first study to guide the design. What is the effect of more participatory processes in the adoption of the proposed norms? What is the role of trust? How does information flow through the organisation? It is expected that further understanding of the connection between how these organisational policies are made and communicated, and quality and efficacy of the policy will be achieved through interviews, ethnographies and social network analysis.

As a research topic that intersects behavioural psychology, organisational psychology, human resource management and policy-making literatures, there is no single body of work to refer to, but rather a collection of findings using different perspectives and methodologies. Therefore, the relevance of this research resides in the intention to create a conceptual model that accounts for the factors having an effect in adoption of policies that translate in reduction of measurable Scope 3 Emissions, which has not been found in the literature so far. This research deepens knowledge on climate policy acceptability, adding relevant information about what is possible to achieve in organisations with midstream power. The goal is to help the generation of efficient, fairer and impactful mobility-management policies that translate in pro-environmental behaviours - policies that translate in actual reduction of emissions and traffic and increases in wellbeing.

Impact Summary

This proposal has been developed from the ground up to guarantee the highest level of impact. The two principal routes towards impact are via the graduates that we train and by the embedding of the research that is undertaken into commercial activity. The impact will have a significant commercial value through addressing skills requirements and providing technical solutions for the automotive industry - a key sector for the UK economy.

The graduates that emerge from our CDT (at least 84 people) will be transformative in two distinct ways. The first is a technical route and the second is cultural.

In a technical role, their deep subject matter expertise across all of the key topics needed as the industry transitions to a more sustainable future. This expertise is made much more accessible and applicable by their broad understanding of the engineering and commercial context in which they work. They will have all of the right competencies to ensure that they can achieve a very significant contribution to technologies and processes within the sector from the start of their careers, an impact that will grow over time. Importantly, this CDT is producing graduates in a highly skilled sector of the economy, leading to jobs that are £50,000 more productive per employee than average (i.e. more GVA). These graduates are in demand, as there are a lack of highly skilled engineers to undertake specialist automotive propulsion research and fill the estimated 5,000 job vacancies in the UK due to these skills shortages. Ultimately, the CDT will create a highly specialised and productive talent pipeline for the UK economy.

The route to impact through cultural change is perhaps of even more significance in the long term. Our cohort will be highly diverse, an outcome driven by our wide catchment in terms of academic background, giving them a 'diversity edge'. The cultural change that is enabled by this powerful cohort will have a profound impact, facilitating a move away from 'business as usual'.

The research outputs of the CDT will have impact in two important fields - the products produced and processes used within the indsutry. The academic team leading and operating this CDT have a long track record of generating impact through the application of their research outputs to industrially relevant problems. This understanding is embodied in the design of our CDT and has already begun in the definition of the training programmes and research themes that will meet the future needs of our industry and international partners. Exchange of people is the surest way to achieve lasting and deep exchange of expertise and ideas. The students will undertake placements at the collaborating companies and will lead to employment of the graduates in partner companies.

The CDT is an integral part of the IAAPS initiative. The IAAPS Business Case highlights the need to develop and train suitably skilled and qualified engineers in order to achieve, over the first five years of IAAPS' operations, an additional £70 million research and innovation expenditure, creating an additional turnover of £800 million for the automotive sector, £221 million in GVA and 1,900 new highly productive jobs.

The CDT is designed to deliver transformational impact for our industrial partners and the automotive sector in general. The impact is wider than this, since the products and services that our partners produce have a fundamental part to play in the way we organise our lives in a modern society. The impact on the developing world is even more profound. The rush to mobility across the developing world, the increasing spending power of a growing global middle class, the move to more urban living and the increasingly urgent threat of climate change combine to make the impact of the work we do directly relevant to more people than ever before. This CDT can help change the world by effecting the change that needs to happen in our industry.