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

Lead Research Organisation: CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: Sch of Psychology

Abstract

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.

Planned Impact

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.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description The study comprised 3 distinctive empirical phases: interviews with stakeholders, a major series of deliberative workshops with public participants, and a British survey (n=1,093) of public attitudes. We explored in depth public views on 4 material demand reduction strategies: improving design (e.g. for greater ease of repair), extending product lifetimes, sharing of products (e.g. a library of things), and radically altering our consumption patterns/lifestyles. A number of key findings and conclusions arising were as follows.

The public want to see a shift towards a more resource efficient economy that protects the environment, jobs and product quality. Meeting these criteria is the first step towards improving the acceptability of any specific resource efficiency strategy.

The public are willing and able to engage with debate around which aspects of resource efficiency should be fostered. Governments and businesses should work meaningfully with the public and create opportunities for engagement at all stages of the process of governance and of product design.

Improving the lifetimes of products is strongly supported by the public. Policies which encourage the design of resource efficient products could reduce the embodied emissions of products by nearly 20 per cent, hence this represents an 'easy win' for policy.

Public preferences for resource efficiency strategies are conditional on the shared social values that underpin them. These include: fairness, trust, convenience, affordability, autonomy, community and safety. Accordingly, people have complex motivations tht are not driven solely by cost. They favour strategies to cut carbon and material use if they align with these values. Carefully testing future propositions by engaging with people early, as this project demonstrates can be done, and addressing their concerns and motivations, will expand the range of policies the government and business can use to achieve much greater resource efficiency right across the economy.

These key findings are also summarized further in a policy briefing jointly with our project partners the Green Alliance ('By Popular Demand https://www.green-alliance.org.uk/by_popular_demand.php).
Exploitation Route The new ESRC CAST Centre (2019-2024) has a workstream on material consumption, based broadly upon the current project and employing the project staff trained up in the current project, so would expect that initiative to develop this work further.
Sectors Creative Economy

Electronics

Energy

Environment

Government

Democracy and Justice

Manufacturing

including Industrial Biotechology

Retail

URL https://www.green-alliance.org.uk/by_popular_demand.php
 
Description The second (workshops) phase of data collection has produced a rich qualitiative data set. The third phase a major quantitative survey in summer 2017. In summer 2017 we held a major disemmination meeting (Phase 1) hosted by Green alliance for hige level policy makers in government, business and the NGO sector. Approx 30 attendees for a full day in London. Since then a results Launch and Publication of 'By Popular Demand' jointly with Green Alliance (Phase 1 and 2) was held in London in November 2018 with over 70 attendees. Within just 4 months this report had been downloaded 330 times. As a result of its publication in late November 2018 Libby Peake (Green Alliance) and Nick Pidgeon (Project PI) were invited to 10 Downing Street to discuss its contents with Lord Randall of Uxbridge, the PM's special advisor on the environment. This took place on 26/11/2018 and lasted for one hour. Findings from this briefing were also cited in the UK Government's consultation on its Resources and Waste Strategy (Defra, Nov 2018). The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee's report on Electronic waste and the circular economy draws upon its evidence (published 23 November 2020, cited on p 34, 36, 44). In particular, in direct reference to the CIE-MAP findings the Committee concludes that "The UK has a long history of engineering, and the public wants to be able repair their products. When products are designed, durability and repairability should be key considerations." (p 44-45). The findings have also shaped ongoing work that Green Alliance is carrying out into how the tax system can be transformed to embed environmental and social considerations. The research showed that people were sceptical of many of the transformational changes that will be needed to drastically reduce resource use but were generally positive or neutral about the idea of replacing VAT with carbon or material taxes, with twice as many supporting as opposing the idea. On the back of these findings, Green Alliance developed a three-year project that is considering how such changes could be made in the UK, and our initial report, Added value: improving the environmental and social impact of UK VAT drew heavily on CIE-MAP research.
First Year Of Impact 2017
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Creative Economy,Electronics,Energy,Environment,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Societal

Economic

Policy & public services

 
Description Briefing for Prime Minister's Environmental Special Advisor
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
Impact As a result of publication of our project results briefing 'By Popular Demand' in November 2018 Libby Peake (Green Alliance) and Nick Pidgeon (Project PI) were invited to 10 Downing Street to discuss its contents with Lord Randall of Uxbridge, the PM's special advisor on the environment. This took place on 26/11/2018 and lasted for one hour. Policy impact.
 
Description On 11th May 2017 Cardiff University with the Green Alliance hosted a stakeholder engagement event exploring public perceptions of the circular economy in London that was attended by 30 high level guests, including researchers, policy makers, government officials, and heads of industry.
Geographic Reach Europe 
Policy Influence Type Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health
 
Description Written evidence submission to Wales Government Just Net Zero Transition consultation, March 2023. Pidgeon, Gross, Henwood et al
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
Impact Submission led to several meetings between the Cardiff Team and Welsh Government Officials. Helping shape Welsh Government Net Zero policy.
 
Description Centre for Climate Change Transformations (C3T)
Amount £5,127,383 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/S012257/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2019 
End 04/2022
 
Description Delivering net zero - the role of research
Amount £321,597 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/V011960/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2020 
End 03/2022
 
Description Results Launch and Publication of 'By Popular Demand' jointly with Green Alliance 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Launch event for By Popular Demand findings Briefing Report in London. Attended by over 70 policy, practitioners business and academics in audeince.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018