Veggie burgers, cargo bikes, packaging-free living – there are plenty of ideas and products to make our everyday lives more climate-friendly. With so many options, it makes sense to have a bit of an overview and a systematic approach, because not all climate protection strategies are effective and their potential often depends on other strategies. Think of electric cars, for example. They only make up for an effective climate strategy if the CO2 intensity of electricity generation is also massively reduced at the same time.
It is therefore worth taking a look at the big picture and asking yourself the question: How exactly does my personal well-being relate to the various environmental impacts? One answer is provided by the cascade shown in Fig. 1, which links lifestyle, consumption and various technical products and efficiency levels with the climate effect resulting from our consumption behaviour (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1: Different stages of coupling between human well-being and climate impacts. Each stage of the cascade offers the possibility of decoupling, i.e., ‘more with less’. In the technical stages (products, energy technologies), decoupling is achieved through new technologies that are more efficient or based on other energy sources (e.g., sunlight). The cascade shown here is based on the energy service cascade proposed by Kalt et al. [1].
Each of the different stages of the energy service cascade offers an opportunity for decoupling, i.e., the possibility of gaining more useful functions from a given resource (e.g., through thermal insulation of houses) or providing a service with significantly less use of resources (e.g., by switching from passenger cars to bicycles). Examples of such decoupling are listed in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2: Examples of ‘more with less’ at various points in the energy-service cascade.
The list of possible strategies is quite long, and they can be placed at different stages of the cascade. Climate protection becomes effective when decoupling is combined across several stages of the cascade. For example, moving to a smaller apartment reduces the energy required for heating. If the space heating is now generated with a heat pump instead of a gas boiler, emissions can be reduced further if the heat pump is operated with low-carbon electricity. However, the opposite is also true: efficiency gains, e.g., through better control of combustion engines, are offset by larger and therefore heavier cars.
Effective climate protection therefore means that agents at the various stages of the cascade (consumers, dealers, producers, regulators) need to work together. There are four central mechanisms for decoupling at the various stages (Fig. 3): technological progress, behavioural change, economic incentives, and regulations.
Fig. 3: Mechanisms of decoupling energy service consumption from environmental impacts.
If we now list examples of the four central decoupling mechanisms across the different stages of the decoupling cascade, we obtain the following overview (Fig. 4). This figure lists and systematically classifies many of the central climate protection strategies. However, this list/table is far from complete, it merely shows some central examples.
Fig. 4: Scheme of climate protection strategies by decoupling strategy and stage of the energy-service cascade. The strategies marked in red are directly applicable to our everyday life or have a direct impact on our mobility and consumer behaviour.
On the technology side, I as a consumer have a direct choice: namely, which products/technology I use and buy in order to generate services (such as transportation) with them. Electric vehicles or well-insulated houses often consume substantially less energy or less CO2-intensive energy than the alternatives used so far: petrol cars or poorly insulated homes.
There are plenty of behavioural changes that have a direct impact on a person’s carbon footprint. Starting with frugality (also sufficiency: eating less meat, living in smaller homes), continuing with the conscious purchase of efficient products (A++ energy label) or changing the energy source (heat pump) through to investing into your own solar rooftop system. So, if I (and many others with me) start commuting to work by e-bike or normal bike instead of taking the car, there is a strong decoupling of the transportation service provided from energy and material consumption.
Prices and regulations also influence our consumer behaviour, both in terms of product choice and technology. Price changes should also make us think about why we actually consume. Fig. 5 provides an overview of the different consumption groups.
Fig. 5: Overview of various consumer needs: Why do we consume?
In addition to meeting our basic needs such as nutrition and shelter, there are many consumer goods that we buy habitually or whose needs are essentially determined by our purchasing power and our environment, e.g., regular meat consumption or vacations. In addition to luxury or excessive consumption, there are so-called rebound goods, which we are forced to consume in order to maintain our lifestyle (like commuting) or to reach other destinations (e.g., air travel). The above illustration provides an initial orientation that can help us better understand and question our own consumption habits.
Of course, not every climate protection strategy is equally effective and their applicability depends very much on the lifestyle and preferences of the individual. Effective climate protection strategies are characterized by
- a noticeable reduction in CO2 emissions
- can be implemented by a large number of people
- leads to questioning one’s own consumption habits and rethinking
- works well together with strategies at other stages of the energy-service cascade
The general consensus is that eating less meat, reducing air travel, switching from car transportation to ‘lighter’ modes of transportation, and living in a smaller home are the most effective ways of directly reducing a person’s impact on the global climate through changes in consumer behaviour (Fig. 6). In addition, a central question is how individual behavioural change can interact effectively with changes at the system level (like renewable energies, carbon tax, wealth tax). It is clear that major changes must happen at all stages of the energy-service cascade. This includes behavioral changes as well as the systemic transformation of the energy system in order to achieve the ambitious but necessary climate targets within the set time horizon to allow future human generations to thrive.
Fig. 6: Summary of ‚Climate protection in everyday life’.
Note: This post is a direct translation of its German counterpart, available under https://www.blog.industrialecology.uni-freiburg.de/index.php/2021/07/18/vom-wissen-zum-handeln-klimaschutz-im-alltag/
Literature
[1] Kalt, G., Wiedenhofer, D., Görg, C. & Haberl, H. Energy Research & Social Science Conceptualizing energy services : A review of energy and well-being along the Energy Service Cascade. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 53, 47–58 (2019).
