{"id":83107,"date":"2022-06-20T11:00:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T09:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=83107"},"modified":"2022-06-20T11:00:45","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T09:00:45","slug":"climate-economics-policies-change-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/environment\/climate-economics-policies-change-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Economics: Policies change People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The makers of climate policy should rethink about how people think: A team of researchers led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that abiding by climate-friendly policies actually changes the way people think about what they do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People\u2019s preferences are more malleable than textbook economics often assumes. The researchers\u2019 advice to policy makers is to take changing preferences into account when tailoring policies like carbon taxes or building low-carbon infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe design of climate mitigation policies relies on economic models. Our research shows that it is possible to improve such models to represent changes in preferences,\u201d says Linus Mattauch, lead author of the paper and researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the University of Oxford. \u201cPreferences represent values and habits, meaning essentially what you as an individual like and not, what you prefer to consume more of and what less. Economists typically assume you are basically born with a fixed set of values and preferences that remain that way throughout your life. It makes calculations easier \u2013 but it is a simplification from reality. And, crucially, if you assume preferences will always remain the same, real change like the transition to a decarbonised economy is harder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preference changes are well documented in the past: When the negative health impacts of smoking were raised in education campaigns alongside price interventions and bans, more and more people quit smoking \u2013 economics rarely understands this as a change in preferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate policies can change people\u2019s way of looking at things
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\u201cCarbon pricing is indispensable for delivering on climate targets,\u201d says co-author Nicholas Stern, who published the famous 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. \u201cHowever, if carbon pricing changes people\u2019s preferences \u2013 and there is evidence that it does – this has implications. For example, if citizens see carbon prices as indicating purposefulness of policy in directions that they find sensible, then the response to carbon pricing could be enhanced.\u201d They do not simply act as consumers: as citizens, they will develop low-carbon preferences, and more environmental protection could be achieved by a given tax rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother example is urban redesign,\u201d adds Mattauch. \u201cIf a government puts in the money and makes a city\u2019s infrastructure more bike-friendly, citizens will switch from driving to using public transport or cycling. This behaviour will stick, even in different infrastructures \u2013 bringing further benefits to the environment and their own health. Taking those benefits into account can lower the threshold for making such big investments worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reducing demand-side emissions to the benefit of planet and people<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One might argue that aiming for preference changes is something policies shouldn\u2019t do. \u201cOur short general answer to this objection is: If society does not debate how preferences are formed, they risk being shaped by and to the benefit of special interest groups rather than in a democratic way. For the enormous challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions drastically in the near-future, recognizing that climate policy instruments modify the preference formation process can produce better climate policies for everyone \u2013 and help advance the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent recommendation of using demand-side measures to curb carbon emissions,\u201d Mattauch concludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n