Oecd Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Greening Household Behaviour: the Role of Public Policy Oecd Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Household consumption patterns and behaviour have an impact on stocks of natural resources, environmental quality and climate change. This is expected to increase significantly in the future. In response, governments have introduced a variety of measures to encourage people to take into consideration the environmental impact of their purchases and practices. These may include environmentally related taxes, energy performance standards for homes, carbon dioxide emission labels for cars, and financial support to purchase solar panels, among others. Nevertheless, understanding and influencing household behaviour remains a challenge for policy makers. 

This publication presents the main results and policy implications of an OECD survey of more than 10 000 households in 10 countries: Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.  It offers new insight into what policy measures really work, looking at what factors affect peoples behaviour towards the environment in five areas: water use, energy use, personal transport choices, organic food consumption, and waste generation and recycling.

Greening Household Behaviour: The Role of Public Policy is an invaluable resource for all those interested by the challenging questions of what promotes greener lifestyles, from policy makers to individual citizens.

Table of Content :

List of acronyms
Executive Summary
Chapter 1. Policies, Environmental Norms and Household Characteristics
-Why household behaviour matters
-The environmental policy context
-The role of environmental attitudes and norms
-Variation across economic and demographic characteristics
-Conclusion
-Annex 1. A1. Household Characteristics and Environmental Norms and Attitudes
Chapter 2. Residential Water Use
-Introduction
-Determinants of water consumption
-Determinants of water saving behaviours and investments
-Willingness-to-pay for improved water quality
-Conclusions
Chapter 3. Residential Energy Use
-Introduction
-Main factors influencing energy consumption and energy-saving behaviour at home
-Main determinants of investment in energy-saving equipments.
-The demand for renewable energy
-Conclusions and policy implications
Chapter 4.Waste Generation, Recycling and Prevention
-Introduction
-Waste generation
-Waste recycling
-Waste prevention
-Conclusions
Chapter 5.Personal Transport Choices
-Introduction
-Literature review
-Mode choice
-Car ownership, choice and use
-Public transport accessibility and use
-The determinants of mode choice
-Conclusions and policy implications
Chapter 6.Organic Food Consumption
-Introduction
-Main motivations to consume organic food
-The role of labelling and certification
-Main difference in attitudes and behaviour across households
-Willingness-to-pay for organic foods
-Conclusions and policy implications
Chapter 7.Conclusions and Policy Implications
-Introduction
-General cross-cutting policy lessons
-Area-specific conclusions and policy implications
-Moving forward
Annex A.Methodology and Project Implementation
Annex B.OECD Questionnaire
Annex C.Research Teams Involved in the 2008 OECD Household Survey Data Analysis
Annex D. Key Policy Issues Examined