Committee on Climate Change

David Hall is a Director at Behaviour Change, a social enterprise which focuses on making it easier for people to lead sustainable lives.  A former advertising strategist,  who masterminded a campaign which helped turn Skoda's fortunes around, David's morals finally got the better of him in 2006, when he joined NGO The Climate Group as International Campaign Director, and then in 2009, set up Behaviour Change with 3 colleagues from the Climate Group.  


Q1/ What is different about your approach to encouraging behaviour change?

While the academic theory of behaviour change can be useful, in our experience there are very few examples of it being successfully applied (am I the only one who is getting a bit bored with hotel towels?).  Our approach is determinedly practical; working with trusted businesses and charities who have the power to influence the behaviour of their customers and supporters 'on the ground'. Our strategies for doing this are informed by marketing techniques. We use qualitative and quantitative research to understand the barriers to a particular behaviour, before testing practical interventions and communications approaches to see how people are likely to respond to them.  Wherever possible, we look for ways to make it easier, cheaper or more appealing to take up the behaviours we are promoting, rather than telling people what to do or appealing to their better natures.

Q2/ What sorts of campaigns have you worked on and what results have you had?

Collaboration is at the core of all of our campaigns; we assemble coalitions of relevant organisations and align their activities around shared goals.  Our 'Eat Seasonably' campaign works with over 40 food businesses and charities as well as nearly 2,000 community partners to encourage people to eat more seasonal fruit and veg. We've made significant progress since 2009, with our latest poll showing that the proportion of people saying they don’t think about seasonality at all when buying fruit and vegetables has dropped dramatically from 51% to 32%.  We've seen increased in-season sales for iconic British produce such as Strawberries, Brussels sprouts and Asparagus and an increase in Google searches for what is in season. We manage the consumer campaign work on 'Greener Journeys', which is an initiative created by the major bus operators to shift a billion journeys from car to bus in the next four years. Last year we co-ordinated pilot campaigns in Exeter, Milton Keynes and Norwich.  Econometric modelling showed significant increases in bus use as a result of the campaign.

Q3/ Do you think that current policies support people in making changes to behaviour?

As the recent House of Lords Science and Technology sub-committee report demonstrated, simplistic attempts to 'nudge' people towards the right behaviours in the absence of a coherent package of regulation and fiscal measures are likely to fail.  In many of the areas we focus on, the wider policy signals actually work against people making sustainable choices.  When we conducted ethnographic research amongst car drivers for Greener Journeys, we found that the entire system was slanted towards the car as the default mode of transport.  Also, cuts to bus subsidies and threats to bus lanes mean that the playing field is becoming less level.  We had a similar situation on our ‘Insulate Today' campaign. We were working with employers to promote the take up of insulation and found that many of them wanted to offer  subsidised or free insulation to their staff, only to discover that this would be regarded as a taxable benefit.

Q4/ What sorts of things might a typical family be doing in 2020 to help cut emissions?

Our two 2020 priorities would be sustainable diet and energy efficiency in the home.  These offer us two very different perspectives on the future of sustainable behaviour.  Retrofitting all of the UK's homes by 2020 will be a Herculean task and it is still unclear whether current government policy will be up to the job.  While there is certainly a role for changing the way people use energy, many of the actions required here are about one-off decisions such as insulating a loft rather than long-term habits.  We need to find ways to make those decisions normal and attractive and to minimise the disruption that people experience.  Food is a fascinating area to work in as (unlike insulation) it's one that arouses passion.  Our aim here is to help people reconnect with their food and where it comes from.  This has the potential for major impact on lifestyles from growing your own fruit and veg, to reducing meat consumption and ultimately a more positive connection with other sustainable behaviours too.  We need to move away from the idea that living sustainably involves deprivation and food is a very interesting place at which to start this journey.

Q5/ What easy steps could people take now to live more sustainably in the future?

It's easy to underestimate the progress that we've made in the last few years.  Recycling, energy efficient light bulbs and more efficient cars may not have been universally adopted, but they have undoubtedly entered the mainstream.  There are still some 'no-brainers' such as wasting less food, which can save the average family £50 a month, which are relatively untapped.
It's going to be interesting to see how rapidly we progress with some of the new technologies that are not far off now:  it won't be long before electric cars offer a realistic alternative for example.  Another innovation that is just round the corner is the introduction of smart meters.  I already have an energy monitor in my home and it's made me far more aware of the impact of different appliances.  If the smart meter roll-out is handled well, it has the potential to introduce many more people to this kind of insight, which alongside rising fuel bills, could be a first step towards an understanding of the true value of energy.

Q6/ What’s next for Behaviour Change?

Government austerity measures, belt-tightening from businesses and the immediate financial concerns of the general public make this a challenging time for small campaigning organisations like ours.  Sustainability has undoubtedly moved down the priority list for many since the heady days of 2007. The government's Green Deal is a major focus for us right now and we are currently working with a coalition of nine businesses and charities to explore the role for collaboration in generating consumer demand for it.  A major shift in public attitudes is required in order to get people to actively want to take up the Green Deal.  Our view is that this can only happen via a concerted effort from a broad range of organisations, from government and big businesses to local councils, social housing providers, charities and community groups.  We're currently hard at work trying to make this a reality!