Managing the green transition – learnings from COVID-19 for promoting green behavioural change

Events that affect virtually every human on earth are rare. Covid-19 is an example of such an event – a global pandemic.

It shares key similarities with the climate emergency - an equally dire global challenge.

Both require individuals to change their behaviour for the greater good.

For policymakers, it is indispensable to understand individuals and their behaviour. Understanding their reactions to policies and information supports a green transition post-Covid.

Policymakers need to anticipate how people will respond to laxer or stricter policies on Covid or the climate emergency.

This symposium shall assist policymakers in doing so. It will present recent scientific insights from the behavioural sciences.

Presenters will explore, highlight, and discuss relevant learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic for the climate crisis, focusing on the individual behavioural level.

Registration

Please register online

Registration deadline: 22/10/2020

Programme

10:00 – 10:15 Technical introduction – short tutorial
10:15 – 10:45 Official welcome and opening addresses

10:45 – 11:00 Scene Setter – K4P advertisement
11:00 – 11:15 Mitigating climate change during and after COVID-19: challenges and windows of opportunity - Ulf HAHNEL
11:20 – 11:35 Linking human destruction of nature to COVID-19 increases support for wildlife conservation policies - Ganga SHREEDHAR
11:40 – 11:55 Collective action, COVID, and climate: some parallels - Pete LUNN
12:00 – 12:15 Preventing and addressing public fatigue: the wicked challenge of global crises - Katrine BACH HABERSAAT

13:00 – 14:00 Panel discussion
14:00 – 14:45 Q&A (slido)
14:45 – 15:00 Closing remarks

The symposium

This symposium is open for

• Behavioural scientists
• Policymakers interested in matters related to the European Green Deal
• People interested in behavioural science and green behaviour

Our goal is to inform policymakers and scientists on the most recent and relevant insights on the behavioural implications of the Covid pandemic for a transition to greener behaviour.

We aim to shed light on questions like:

• How will people respond to laxer or stricter policies – to tackle the coronavirus or the climate emergency – in the future?
• Will flying less or working more from home become the new norm? Will behaviour go back to previous levels?
• Will the public become more or less worried about the climate emergency, engage more or less in climate protection, against the backdrop of the current health crisis?
• Will people become resilient against the prevailing Covid-misinformation and put more trust in science – even for the climate emergency?
• Can policymakers use the current momentum to incite environmentally friendly behavioural change?

Contact

JRC-CCBI@ec.europa.eu

Venue

Online, EU