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Rapid decarbonisation of cities by addressing behavioural failures? A critical review of policy interventions

Sonnenschein, Jonas LU (2016)
Abstract
While many of the interventions to reduce carbon emissions target market failures, little attention is given to behavioural failures. This study investigates to what degree cities, which have taken a central role in global decarbonisation efforts, already incorporate findings from behavioural economics in their policy interventions. The ‘traditional taxonomy’ for policy intervention, represented among others in the work of the IPCC, is taken as a benchmark for assessing city’s decarbonisation interventions in the areas of building energy efficiency and transportation. Based on an extensive literature review and empirical data of urban climate networks, the study finds that market failures in adopting low-carbon technologies largely... (More)
While many of the interventions to reduce carbon emissions target market failures, little attention is given to behavioural failures. This study investigates to what degree cities, which have taken a central role in global decarbonisation efforts, already incorporate findings from behavioural economics in their policy interventions. The ‘traditional taxonomy’ for policy intervention, represented among others in the work of the IPCC, is taken as a benchmark for assessing city’s decarbonisation interventions in the areas of building energy efficiency and transportation. Based on an extensive literature review and empirical data of urban climate networks, the study finds that market failures in adopting low-carbon technologies largely dominate the framing of policy interventions. Based on few examples of non-traditional interventions addressing behavioural failures, an alternative taxonomy to frame decarbonisation policy is discussed. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Behavioural Economics, Taxonomy, Policy, Decarbonisation, Cities
project
Behavioural economics for energy and climate change policies and the transition to a sustainable energy system.
Evaluation of Policy Instruments Targeting Green Energy Technologies
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7fb56077-6adf-4d88-b1f4-0d97e12ac6a4
date added to LUP
2016-10-21 11:08:21
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:26:47
@misc{7fb56077-6adf-4d88-b1f4-0d97e12ac6a4,
  abstract     = {{While many of the interventions to reduce carbon emissions target market failures, little attention is given to behavioural failures. This study investigates to what degree cities, which have taken a central role in global decarbonisation efforts, already incorporate findings from behavioural economics in their policy interventions. The ‘traditional taxonomy’ for policy intervention, represented among others in the work of the IPCC, is taken as a benchmark for assessing city’s decarbonisation interventions in the areas of building energy efficiency and transportation. Based on an extensive literature review and empirical data of urban climate networks, the study finds that market failures in adopting low-carbon technologies largely dominate the framing of policy interventions. Based on few examples of non-traditional interventions addressing behavioural failures, an alternative taxonomy to frame decarbonisation policy is discussed.}},
  author       = {{Sonnenschein, Jonas}},
  keywords     = {{Behavioural Economics; Taxonomy; Policy; Decarbonisation; Cities}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Rapid decarbonisation of cities by addressing behavioural failures? A critical review of policy interventions}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/15855679/behave2016_Sonnenschein.pdf}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}