Determining critical behavioural interventions for enabling an effective transition to net-zero emissions in Atlantic Canada

Determining critical behavioural interventions for enabling an effective transition to net-zero emissions in Atlantic Canada’ is a multi-year research project 

The goal of the project is to determine how best to motivate behavioural changes that will enable society to achieve net-zero emissions goals more quickly and cost effectively.

Objectives

To address these critical omissions in techno-economic analyses and to ensure that behavioural-based climate change mitigation solutions are considered alongside technological ones, research is required to 1) understand how and at what cost low or zero emissions behaviours can be achieved and 2) advance methodologies for integrating understanding of human behaviour within energy system modelling. The project addresses both of these research needs:

• characterizing barriers to and opportunities for realizing low or zero emissions behaviours in the transportation, buildings, and agriculture sectors of Atlantic Canada through literature review and interviews with subject matter experts,
• designing and soliciting public feedback on behavioural interventions that can address any of the barriers identified, and
• integrating a set of proposed behavioural interventions within an existing open-source energy system model of Atlantic Canada, thus enabling analyses that will identify, accelerate, and evaluate emissions reduction opportunities that are socially feasible and can increase the pace of the transition to net zero.

Outcomes

1. Webinars to enhance understanding of the research area.
2. White papers presenting: literature review, barriers and opportunities for pro-climate behaviour change in Atlantic Canada, recommendations for achieving pro-climate behaviour change in Atlantic Canada and the integration of behavioural components into an energy system model.

Support for this research

To support the mandate of Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body related to research, this project was undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada. Funding was provided through the Environmental Damages Funds' Climate Action and Awareness Fund, administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada.