Climate News 25:11

When using behaviour change techniques, it’s important to understand what your chosen approach does and if it’s right for you. Basic, right? But it doesn’t always seem that way.
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As part of the push to encourage households to switch away from gas to electric, a number of councils and agencies are encouraging people to develop structured plans for appliance replacements and upgrades over a number of years.

This is a form of a structured behaviour change, which has been commonly used in health settings to encourage people to exercise more, stop smoking, drink less and lose weight. Individuals set a goal and follow a plan to achieve it – anyone who has done the Couch to 5K running program has participated in this kind of program.

But is it the right approach for home electrification? Two problems stand out.

The first is that we are asking households to think about multiple behaviour changes all at the same time (the equivalent of lose weight, run more, eat healthier, drink less all together). This sort of intervention can work, especially if doing everything at the same time results in increased rewards, but it’s also more complex, more difficult to maintain and can lead to behavioural fatigue.

This is linked to the second problem of duration. Basically, long-term behaviour change interventions require ongoing support (think of patients recovering from surgery making significant lifestyle changes). The way go electric plans are currently structured, we’re using a technique designed for a short-term intervention and applying it to a behaviour that stretches out over years. 

This could work, but it requires practitioners asking people to make the change to know what they’re doing, when they’re doing it and what support they need at different points on the journey. Currently, we’re less like doctors checking in with long-term patients and more like a doctor giving that same patient a pamphlet as they leave the hospital and telling them, ‘good luck’.

Only one of these approaches is likely to be effective.

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Australian households could cut their power bills by up to 90 per cent by switching to solar, batteries and, crucially, improving the energy efficiency of appliances, according to a new report.

It notes that the battle between fossil fuels and renewables is not the main game when it comes to domestic energy production and consumption. It’s how we use the power we have.

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Once again, cities are taking the lead in responding to climate change, according to a new report from the Global Covenant for Mayors on Climate and Energy, and C40.
 
As global emissions rise, per capita emissions across C40 cities fell 7.5 percent on average between 2015 and 2024.

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Good paper for those councils dealing with wealthy suburbs. While both rich and poor households recognise that the wealthier you are the more emissions you are likely to produce.

But there’s a perception gap with wealthy households thinking they are doing better than their peers and so not needing to act as urgently.

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The City of Moonee Valley is looking for a Principal Sustainability Officer – Integrated Water Management.

It’s a temporary part-time position until January 2026.

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