Today, the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) presented its special report 'Politics in duty: Facilitating environmentally friendly behavior'. Using the examples of meat consumption, smartphone use and building renovation, the report outlined how German policymakers could redesign the framework to make environmental protection the obvious consumption choice for consumers.
These are important aspects:
- While current environmental policy focuses primarily on environmentally friendly and efficient production processes and the expansion of renewable energies, environmental and climate goals cannot be achieved without changes in environmentally relevant consumer behavior. For example, in the areas of meat consumption, smartphone use and building renovation, more environmentally friendly offers from manufacturers will have no effect unless individual consumer behavior also changes.
- However, the example of smartphone use shows that many consumers would be willing to use their smartphones longer instead of buying new ones, but the political framework conditions to enable sustainable consumption decisions are lacking here - for example, if the battery cannot be replaced by the consumer, software updates can no longer be installed or contracts offer strong incentives for a new device.
- While psychological factors such as personal routines, norms, emotions, and knowledge play a role in decisions for or against environmentally friendly behavior, environmentally friendly behavior would also have to be specifically promoted through political incentives and expertise. However, this behavioral approach is not a substitute for production-side environmental protection requirements.
- Political measures can be applied at the following three levels and should be sensibly combined and arranged: Changes in the context through legal prohibitions or price incentives through taxes, development of basic influencing factors through education or values and norms regarding environmental awareness, and support in acute decision-making situations.
Annette Elisabeth Töller, SRU member, emphasized: "We can only contain the ecological crises if everyone contributes. Whether consumption, private investment or leisure behavior: It is high time that politics facilitates, promotes and - where necessary - also demands environmentally friendly behavior. The accusation of 'paternalism' often falls short of the mark. Behavior is always influenced from the outside, for example by advertising and previous political decisions, but currently often to the detriment of the environment."
Source: SRU
More information and special report