People often recognise the collective benefits of climate action but can have a psychological bias which wants to keep things as they are even if the alternative is better, according to a new ESRI research bulletin.
Individuals support acting together in the common good but this can easily unravel, the paper on “encouraging co-operation in climate collective action problems” concludes.
“Tackling climate change effectively relies on everyone – households, businesses and governments – working together to reduce emissions but collective action encounters difficult challenges,” it adds.
In general individuals are often willing to take on a cost for the benefit of the larger group but this kind of “co-operation” is far from guaranteed, it finds, but in the case of addressing climate change together particular difficulties can arise.
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The bulletin, produced by Dr Lucie Martin, Dr Shane Timmons and Prof Pete Lunn, includes a review of 272 studies. It finds most people tend to co-operate if they recognise co-operating is better for everyone and they believe others will co-operate too. In this scenario “factors like fairness, trust, communication, and strong leadership make a big difference”.
Groups with a strong shared identity, fair systems for making rules, and consequences for those who don’t co-operate are more successful in collaborating towards a common goal.
Among challenges specific to climate are “uncertainty about the risks and impacts of climate change, consequences of today’s decisions being most strongly felt by future generations, and the need to overcome psychological biases such as the ‘status quo’ bias” – a preference for things to stay as they are, even if the alternative is better”.
Complicating matters is the multilevel nature of the problem, it says, adding that local action is required to meet national or international goals
More evidence is needed on other climate-specific features of the problem, the researchers say, such as the requirement for different groups of people to take different forms of collective climate action, like getting people living in urban areas to switch to public transport and people living in rural areas to switch from burning solid fuels.
On implications for policymakers, it says co-operation in collective action problems is likely to be encouraged by ensuring what is asked of people is perceived as fair, communication is clear and leaders lead by example. Showcasing success stories may help to inspire action, it says, while using multiple, smaller-scale initiatives instead of one large strategy may help foster co-operation by aligning goals with local identities and benefits.
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