Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of evidence from Global Action Plan
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
1. Introduction Whether it is fighting climate change, saving water or increasing recycling, Government policies increasingly call for people to change their behaviour. This might be altering daily habits such as switching off lights or turning off the tap whilst cleaning teeth or influencing purchasing such as buying fuel efficient cars or organic foods. Deciding how to achieve these behaviour changes is difficult for Government – too much intrusion leads to accusations of a ‘nanny state’, too little leaves people feeling that there is no leadership. This challenge has resulted in a growing level of research being commissioned to explore how Government can help encourage positive changes of behaviour. Much of this research laments the lack of evidence about the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions. Global Action Plan is a charity that encourages people to change their behaviour to protect the environment. Through our activities we have discovered that: • Behaviour change projects can achieve significant environmental savings and social benefits providing that they are carefully structured, professionally run and properly resourced. • Collecting data and evidence from these projects is complex, fraught with uncertainty and requires resourcing. • Government funding is usually directed to awareness-raising campaigns for which little or no evidence of effectiveness is sought, rather than towards behaviour change initiatives where evidence is demanded. This report summarises the evidence available from Global Action Plan and poses related questions to policy makers.
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Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
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2. Global Action Plan and its programmes Global Action Plan was founded in the US in 1989 and is now established in 14 countries including the UK. Throughout the 1990s each Global Action Plan organisation explored various approaches to environmental behaviour change. In the UK, between 1994 and 1999 over 30,000 households participated in ‘Action at Home’. Households were sent a questionnaire designed to assess their environmental impact and then received a series of five Action Packs outlining a number of different lifestyle changes that they could make to reduce these impacts. Throughout the programme support and advice was available from teams of local volunteers. Once participants had worked through the packs, they were encouraged to fill in a second questionnaire to assess the changes they had made. Action at Home achieved substantial savings – roughly 30% of participants installed one or more low-energy light bulb and 40% adjusted their toilet cisterns to save water 1. These results however paled in comparison to those achieved by the EcoTeams programme operated by Global Action Plan in the Netherlands 2. Global Action Plan UK commissioned independent research 3 to see how their programmes might be improved. This research suggested that programmes needed to combine three elements: 1. a structured information provision; 2. a facilitator-led group process offering participants the chance to discuss the information presented and the challenges of the lifestyle changes suggested; and 3. feedback on how the changes being made succeed in reducing environmental impacts. Global Action Plan UK used this research to create Action at School, Environment Champions and EcoTeams. 1Ginn (2004) 2Staats and Harland (1995) 3Hobson (2001); Maiteny (2000)
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
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2.1 Action at School
2.1.1 Action at School case study
Schools participating in Action at School decide which environmental issue they intend to cover such as waste, energy, water or transport. A ‘Lead Teacher’ is selected within the school who works with Global Action Plan to draw together an ‘Action Team’ of roughly 20 pupils who volunteer to participate. Ideally the team will be made up of pupils from across different year groups.
The ‘Wiseman Waste’ Team at Cardinal Wiseman RC School created a plan to reduce waste at their school and met regularly to monitor their progress. Prior to the project there was minimal recycling, but as a result of their participation in Action at School waste was reduced by 76.9% which equates to 31 tonnes diverted from landfill each year.
A Global Action Plan facilitator runs a training day with the Lead Teacher and Action Team. This training outlines the local and global issues surrounding the school’s selected environmental issue and highlights the sorts of behavioural solutions available to it. Pupils then perform an environmental audit. In the case of waste, rubbish bags will be collected from different areas of the school and will be weighed and sorted into different types, e.g. paper, plastic, and metal. The pupils are then encouraged to discuss ways of reducing their waste. Following the audit, the Action Team creates a strategy to reduce the school’s impacts. This strategy usually has two parts, the first detailing structural issues that require action and the second outlining a campaign to encourage other pupils and teachers to change their behaviour. Most schools organise a launch event at which the Action Team gives a presentation at an assembly letting the rest of the school know what is planned and why it is important to change their behaviours. The campaign is then launched and lasts for a few months. Towards the end of the campaign, a second audit is undertaken in which the team is able to see how their strategy has made a difference. After this audit, the students are given a certificate endorsed by UNEP which may be presented at an assembly, and the team is often awarded some kind of celebration such as a trip to the cinema. The whole process takes two or three terms.
The waste reduction was achieved through a range of imaginative initiatives. To ensure that teachers were involved, students created a ‘Green Handed Award’ which rewarded teachers for taking positive environmental action. To spread the learning throughout the school the Citizenship Coordinator ran a recycling module linked to PSHE. To further communicate their message to the community the Action Team wrote a song about recycling and a play about litter and rats to support the ‘Bin the Rats’ campaign in Southall. They performed these two pieces at a pre-election meeting of community members and councillors which persuaded the council to address the rat problem.
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
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2.2.1 Britannia Building Society case study
Environment Champions 2.2 The Environment Champions programme Environment Champions focuses on one or two areas of environmental impact, such as waste and/or energy. Once an organisation has decided to take part, a team of volunteer ‘Environment Champions’ consisting of up to about 20 employees, who ideally represent all parts of the organisation and with varying degrees of seniority, is established. The team is then facilitated through an initial training session in which they meet, learn the aims of the programme and carry out an initial audit of the organisation’s environmental impacts in the chosen area. This audit may involve weighing the waste produced in offices or establishing energy usage with the facilities manager. The facilitator then compiles an audit report detailing the organisation’s environmental impacts. The team is reconvened for a second meeting where it designs a strategy to reduce impacts. These strategies generally have two main parts – establishing the structural changes required such as getting recycling bins, installing low-energy light bulbs, etc., and planning a communications campaign directed towards the rest of the employees. Campaigns have historically involved face-to-face communication; displays and events; email and intranet messages and putting up posters. Some campaigns have had creative elements including a glass painting workshop which encouraged employees to use their own individually designed glass rather than disposable plastic cups and an employee dressed up as a ‘green man’ who welcomed employees to work and encouraged them to recycle their waste. The implementation of the strategies generally lasts for between three and five months during which time the facilitator meets with the team on a monthly basis for progress meetings designed to iron out problems and maintain momentum. At the end of the campaign a second audit is performed using the same methods as in the first and the facilitator compiles a report detailing the changes made and the environmental savings achieved. The team then meets again to celebrate their success and plan the next steps.
Britannia Building Society recruited a team of employees who measured the environmental impacts of the two Head Office sites in Leek and the offices in Plymouth and London. The Environment Champions created three months of action looking at energy use, paper consumption and recycling. In energy month, the group built an exercise bike that generated electricity to highlight energy efficiency messages and placed energy reminders on people’s screens if they left their monitors on overnight. In paper month, the group created a sculpture of empty paper boxes in the office reception that represented the amount of paper used in a few hours. In recycling month, the TV character ‘Dusty Bin’ was brought to life to walk the offices, communicating the 3 R’s of reduce, reuse and recycle. Thanks to their efforts, the Leek office cut paper consumption over six months by 2.25 million sheets, which stacked up would stand over twice the height of Big Ben. Energy use was cut by almost 3 million footballs worth of CO2, avoiding over £3,000 in energy bills in the first months after their campaign. In London, paper recycling and plastic recycling increased by 59% and 32% respectively and the number of monitors left on overnight was reduced by 44%. In Plymouth and London paper content of the waste sent to landfill decreased by 46% and 59% respectively. A survey of staff attitudes at the Leek Head Office showed the far reaching effect of the campaign with 73% of employees saying they had changed their habits at work and 30% had changed habits at home.
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2.3.1 British Gas EcoTeams case study British Gas ran EcoTeams in late 2004, recruiting 18 volunteers from across the country to act as EcoTeam Coordinators. Global Action Plan ran a training day for the Coordinators after which each was asked to recruit six colleagues to join them in an EcoTeam. The volunteers succeeded in recruiting 130 households who participated in the four-month programme.
2.3 The EcoTeams programme EcoTeams helps households to change their environmental behaviour. Teams of six to eight people are recruited either from the same neighbourhood, through workplaces, or through existing social groups. The teams meet every month for four months. Each meeting concentrates on a different lifestyle area. The first meeting is an introductory session, the second focuses on waste and shopping, the third concentrates on energy and transport issues and the fourth looks at water and household chemicals. In each meeting participants are led through a series of discussions on the local and global issues surrounding each theme and discuss a number of proposed behavioural changes to address the issues. In between each meeting, participants are encouraged to record their household’s waste, recycling, electricity, gas and water usage and send the data to Global Action Plan where savings are calculated. At the end of the programme, participants are given a report on their progress and the environmental savings their behaviour changes have achieved. They are also given the option of a ‘next steps’ meeting to discuss their achievements and follow-up the process however they choose. The meetings are overseen by a facilitator whose role it is to help participants through the process and encourage discussion. Facilitators offer information, help and advice but take a hands-off approach, encouraging participants to find information out for themselves and letting them decide what actions to take. Facilitators deliberately do not criticise participants.
Based upon the measurements taken by the households, the British Gas employees succeeded in reducing the level of waste being thrown into their dustbins by 31.5%, increasing their recycling rate by 25%, cutting their electricity use by 16.5%, reducing their gas consumption by 10% and cutting the CO2 emissions from their direct energy use by 16%. In addition to achieving environmental savings at home participants translated their environmental concerns back into the workplace. Many involved sought to further improve their recycling facilities in the office and encouraged their colleagues to put paper in the right bins. British Gas gained a group of employees who were more motivated and receptive to environmental change programmes, succeeded in boosting staff morale and participants even had an opportunity to inform others of their achievements at a high profile House of Commons event.
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
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3. The evidence base In this section evidence is presented from the three programmes. Whilst there are weaknesses within this evidence, Global Action Plan is one of the few organisations that collects this type of data and analyses the effectiveness of behaviour change programmes. The evidence is presented as a model which can be learnt from and built upon.
3.1 Action at School Action at School has operated in 164 schools across the country. In total 3,361 pupils have been facilitated through the training process, with a further 138,117 influenced by the programme. The vast majority of schools have sought to reduce their waste, mainly due to the availability of funding in this area. Other schools have used Action at School to reduce their energy use, water consumption and environmental impact of transport.
3.1.1 Action at School – waste reduction Chart 3.1 shows the very high level of success the Action at School programme has in reducing waste in schools. On average 42.65% of waste is saved with a maximum saving of 83.00% and a minimum of 2.10%. Chart 3.1 shows the distribution of these savings rates across all schools which have participated in the programme.
Action at School – Waste Programmes: Headline Results
kg/person/week
0.4000
CHART 3.1CHART
42.65% 83.00%
0.3000
2.10%
0.2000
0.1000
0.0000 AVG
MAX
MIN
Before
0.3423
0.2615
0.1647
After
0.1962
0.0423
0.1616
Schools with under 500 pupils achieved an average waste saving of 51.94%, schools with between 500 -1,000 students achieved a 40.37% waste saving and schools with over 1,000 pupils achieved a 35.73% saving. This evidence suggests that the programme is effective across a range of schools.
3.1.2 Action at School – further results Less data is available for the other issues covered by Action at School however the following headline results have been achieved to-date: • For nine energy programmes an average saving of 12% was achieved with a maximum saving of 34% and worst result of a 15% increase in energy use 4. • For two water programmes an average saving of 22.5% was achieved with a maximum saving of 25% and a minimum saving of 20%. • For two transport programmes there was an average 5% increase in walking, a 5% increase in public transport use, and a 3% decrease in car use. 4 These figures are not based on ‘degree day’ data which
may account for this increase in energy use.
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Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
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3.2 Environment Champions A total of 62 organisations have participated, or are participating, in Environment Champions. These organisations come from across the UK, represent both businesses and local authority/civil service organisations and range in size from 22 to 6,442 employees. In total, 924 people have been through the Environment Champions process and this has impacted upon more than 54,000 people. Through Environment Champions 51 organisations have sought to address waste issues and 29 have examined their energy use. This report explores data from these two areas. There was insufficient data available to look at the impact on water consumption and transport.
3.2.1 Environment Champions – waste reduction An average waste reduction of 37.96% was achieved across all of the Environment Champions’ waste programmes, with a maximum saving of 70% and a minimum of 13%. In all cases where it has been operated, the programme has achieved substantial savings. Chart 3.2 shows the headline results from the waste programmes.
Environment Champions – All Waste Programmes: Headline Results
CHART 3.2
4.0000
kg/person/week
70.00% 3.0000 37.96% 13.00%
2.0000
1.0000
0.0000 AVG
MAX
MIN
Before
2.1163
3.2967
1.1855
After
1.2983
0.9890
1.0274
The size of the participating organisation had no significant impact on the waste savings achieved. Organisations with less than 250 employees achieved average waste savings of 37.62% and those with over 250 employees achieved average waste savings of 38.22%. The type of organisation made very little difference. Local authorities achieved average waste savings of 38.75% whilst private sector organisations achieved average waste savings of 37.13%. More substantial savings were achieved when organisations chose to focus solely on waste rather than dividing their attentions between more than one issue, with average savings of 41.17% being achieved in these cases.
CHART 3.2
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
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3.2.2 Environment Champions – energy savings Data was available for 14 energy programmes in which an average saving of 12.07% was achieved. Chart 3.3 shows the distribution of savings across the energy programmes and indicates substantial savings in all but one of the 14 programmes analysed.
Environment Champions – Energy Programmes: Headline Results 200.0000
CHART CHART 3.3 -3.74%
kwh/person/week
150.0000
100.0000 12.07% 50.0000
22.00%
0.0000 AVG
MAX
MIN
Before
62.1062
24.4363
173.9052
After
55.2539
20.5832
180.4028
The organisation where energy use increased was due to a growth in the size of the organisation resulting in more computers, a larger server and an overall growth in other electrical equipment. The energy savings achieved by staff behaviour change were eclipsed by this wider growth. Global Action Plan needs to further refine its measurement process to assess impact in growing organisations.
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Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
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3.3 The EcoTeams programme The EcoTeams project has been undertaken by roughly 385 different teams, made up of around 2,300 people and thus impacting upon about 4,830 people in total 5. The project has been run in all parts of the UK. This report looks at waste savings, recycling rates and savings in electricity. Data has been captured for gas use but has not been included because it has not been seasonally adjusted. As gas is predominantly used for heating, not having seasonally adjusted figures significantly weakens the data. There was insufficient data on water use due to the small number of households who have water meters. No data was collected on transport and shopping.
3.3.1 EcoTeams - waste reduction Data on waste reduction was available for 58 different EcoTeams. An average waste saving of 19.66% was achieved across these teams. In absolute terms this equates to a saving of 0.59kg per person per week. Chart 3.4 outlines the headline results from these teams:
3.0000
CHART 3.4
CHART 3.4
EcoTeams – Rubbish: Headline Results
-23.93%
19.66%
kg/person/week
2.5000 2.0000
46.90%
1.5000 1.0000 0.5000 0.0000
AVG
MAX
MIN
Before
2.5757
1.5043
1.6875
After
1.9844
0.7988
2.0913
A total of 53 EcoTeams achieved waste savings with a maximum saving of 46.9%. Four teams increased their waste with the worst result being a 23.93% increase in waste production.
5 In some cases all householders are part of the team but
more often a single householder joins the team and thus the programmes outcomes are taken back to the household where it impacts upon more people.
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
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3.3.2 EcoTeams - recycling rates As chart 3.5 illustrates, recycling rates only increased by 7.71%. This shows that the majority of the overall savings were achieved by reducing waste in the first place. This illustrates how effective EcoTeams is at encouraging households to reduce and reuse waste.
CHART CHART 3.5
EcoTeams – Recycling: Average change in proportion of recycling
3.5
100%
80%
50.33%
42.62%
49.67%
57.38%
60%
40% 20%
0%
Rubbish
Recycling
Chart 3.6 shows the widely spread distribution of changes in recycling rates. This is largely due to the availability of local recycling facilities. In some areas households can recycle nearly all materials on the doorstep whereas in others there may be no doorstep collection and poor facilities available in the local area.
CHART CHART 3.6
EcoTeams – Recycling: % change in proportion of recycling (n=51) 14 12 10 8 N 6 4 2 0
12
11 9
8 3
4
3 1
-9 to 5
-4 to 0
1 to 5
5 to 9
10 to 14
15 to 19
% change in proportion of recycling
20 to 24
25 to 29
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
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3.3.3 EcoTeams - electricity savings Electricity savings have not yet been seasonally adjusted by Global Action Plan but have been included because, unlike gas, electricity is not predominantly used for heating. On average, EcoTeams reduce their electricity consumption by 6.86% which translates into an absolute saving of 713.85kWh per person per year. Chart 3.7 summarises the headline results from the programme.
kwh/person/year
8000.00
CHART 3.7
CHART 3.7
EcoTeams – Electricity: Headline Results 6.86%
40.64%
-57.69%
AVG
BEST
WORST
6000.00
4000.00
2000.00
0.00
Before
5408.82
5973.25
4253.01
After
4694.97
3545.71
6706.60
The data indicates that the EcoTeams programme has a significant effect in reducing environmental impacts across a number of different household consumption areas. Further still the impacts are achieved in a relatively short amount of time – 3 to 4 months rather than the ‘decades’ suggested for attitude and behaviour change campaigns.
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
4. Discussion – Why do the programmes work? Despite the recognised problems with the data, Global Action Plan’s programmes are extremely successful in changing behaviour and reducing environmental impacts across a range of areas and in different settings. There are four key factors contributing to the success of the programmes 1) Groups, 2) Effective communications, 3) Measurement and feedback, and 4) Process.
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4.1 Groups Perhaps the most distinctive feature is the use of groups to encourage people to make behavioural changes. In a group setting, particularly one that is supported by a facilitator, participants are encouraged to question their habits and lifestyle practices in a supportive environment with others who are going through a similar process. Participants are able to discuss their own lifestyles and learn about alternative ways of living. Through this process they are able to make new connections between their own lifestyles and sustainability issues and are able to negotiate new ways of behaving 6. In the case of the Environment Champions and Action at School programmes, the teams act almost as a debating group, negotiating why practices are done in the ways they are, what it is possible to change, and how change might best be achieved. At the same time, groups create a new social network for their members from which support and encouragement can be drawn. It has been suggested that the groups offer many wider social benefits as well as environmental savings, and one of these social benefits is a sense of empowerment for their members. Group members feel less isolated in making changes as they can see that others are facing similar challenges and going through the same process at the same time. Groups also help to overcome issues of ‘trust’ in sustainable lifestyles initiatives. Rather than simply being told what to do by a distant authority, participants share thoughts and question issues with their peers, whose judgements being based on personal experience often carry more weight 7.
4.2 Effective communications
6 Phillips (2000) calls this process of making new
connections ‘interdiscursivity’. Hobson (2001) sees this as critical to a process of ‘discursive positioning’ in which participants are able to negotiate their own position in relation to sustainability issues. 7 Macnaghten et al (1995); Macnaghten and Jacobs (1997)
Another core element of Global Action Plan’s success is the manner in which it communicates to its participants about sustainable lifestyles. The communications are entirely tailored to the specific needs of the individual participants or to the organisation. Group discussions allow team members to understand sustainable lifestyles issues in relation to their own circumstances.
In this respect, the messages could not be communicated in a more local and relevant fashion. Global Action Plan’s programmes avoid the use of jargon and break down communications into meaningful and manageable chunks as they permit participants to understand and question the messages in their own words. If any confusion does arise, a facilitator is on hand to clarify issues without delay. Finally, communication is always positive and practical. Facilitators actively encourage participants and never criticise any opinions or actions that are shared. This ensures that team members do not feel guilty about their actions, but instead feel positive that they are going through a process which will help them make changes.
4.3 Measurement and feedback The importance of the measurement and feedback process within Global Action Plan’s programmes is essential. By measuring and experiencing at first-hand the environmental impacts their lifestyles or organisations have, team members are more easily able to understand the need for changes to be made. In this respect the measurement process acts as a continual source of motivation for the groups. By receiving feedback on the savings they have made, participants gain a greater sense of efficacy. Alongside the other members of their team, they are able to see that individuals can make a difference if they all act together.
4.4 Process Global Action Plan’s programmes never operate on the basis of a one-off engagement they all involve a process of change. The programmes recognise that behavioural change does not occur overnight, but requires continued support over time. By providing team members with this support throughout the duration of their programmes, Global Action Plan’s facilitators ensure not only that changes occur, but that they are likely to endure.
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
5. Global Action Plan’s call for action The evidence illustrates that substantial savings are achieved by the programmes. These behavioural changes are often to daily habits which are recognised as amongst the hardest to ‘unfreeze’. There is a real opportunity to fight many of the environmental problems that we are currently facing by extending these types of programmes to a much wider audience. In order to do this new thinking and policies are needed.
5.1 Greater investment in behaviour change projects is required There appears to be a disconnection between what Government and its agencies say they want to happen and what they are willing to invest in. Government seems to be comfortable making large scale investment in media advertising campaigns that are designed to increase awareness but are not willing to invest in programmes that are designed to change behaviour. There is a growing level of academic evidence that increased awareness does not translate into changes of behaviour. If Government is serious in its desire to encourage people to change behaviour it needs to invest specifically in behaviour change programmes. This investment is essential because by their nature these programmes are time-consuming and labour-intensive. Creating space for people to participate effectively is a real challenge in businesses where commercial pressures exist, in schools which are trying to deliver the national curriculum and in households facing the day-to-day pressures of life. The intensity of the programmes and the use of facilitated groups necessarily adds to the cost. A considerable amount of Global Action Plan’s time is spent talking to organisations persuading them of the value of investing in the process and in preparing bids to funding bodies for work in households and schools. The type of grants available has a significant impact on the environmental issues that are covered by projects. The predominance of schools concentrating on waste issues is entirely due to the level of funding available for this topic. If the Government wishes to get schools to concentrate on other issues such as energy and water they need to make funding available. Global Action Plan has also discovered that the longer a project runs in an area the easier it is to find people who are willing to volunteer for the programmes and even to train as facilitators. The recruitment and training of these volunteers build stronger communities and increases the impact of the programmes. Long-term funding is essential to enable the programmes to become established within the community. Unfortunately most available funding – particularly from local authorities - is only available on a short-term basis.
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Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
5.2 Periods of environmental stress should be used to promote the importance of behaviour change The stress and strains that we are placing on our environment are becoming ever more apparent notably with climate change and water shortages. There is a danger that coverage of these issues will make people feel that they are too large for them to personally address. Global Action Plan believes that these environmental pressures should be used to encourage people to take practical action in social groups. This level of encouragement will help to reduce the major challenge of persuading people to participate in a project that involves them meeting with people from their community. In addition to this overall ‘call for action’ more sophisticated approaches are needed to encourage people to participate. These approaches need to concentrate on areas where people are already in social groups or where there is a cohesive sense of community. Global Action Plan is currently testing a range of these including: • Door knocking campaigns in specific streets. • Recruiting people through their workplace. • Creating partnerships with organisations such as the Women’s Institute, religious groups and other voluntary organisations. • Establishing an EcoTeam at School programme and encouraging pupils to take messages home to their parents/carers. • Holding meetings in neutral venues such as libraries or church halls. These different routes are already starting to generate larger numbers of participants and from different backgrounds – particularly recruitment through the workplace. This suggests that there are opportunities for central and local government and companies to effectively promote behaviour change programmes such as EcoTeams. Once people do start participating in an EcoTeam many of them feel that the programme should be extended to cover more issues and to allow more time for discussion.
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5.3.1 Collecting data from participants Global Action Plan is one of the few organisations that collects hard data on the impacts of behaviour changes. In all programmes, participants are shown how to measure and record their results. Global Action Plan believes that this process is important but it does have weaknesses. These include: • Many people do not know how to measure their electricity or gas meters or even where they are on occasion. This can lead to the wrong measurements being taken or none being received. • Many households are reluctant to weigh their rubbish even when they are provided with scales. Global Action Plan realises that standing in the kitchen weighing bin bags is not a normal thing to do and illustrates the conflict between the need to collect accurate and reliable data on sustainable lifestyles and making the process socially acceptable. • The accuracy of readings vary. For example, schools may fail to incorporate food waste into one of their audits but include it into another or office employees may not be able to accurately weigh the waste from all of the office’s bins. • Circumstances change between audits. For instance relatives might be visiting or businesses may change rapidly with more staff or through relocation. Global Action Plan would welcome support to refine and improve the way we and other organisations collect data.
5.3.2 Assessing the wider impacts of the programmes Anecdotal evidence from all of Global Action Plan’s programmes indicates that they have a wider range of benefits than just environmental savings. In the school programme for instance a facilitator states: “The big thing, and this is what I really love about the project, is that we ask the kids what they think. We empower teenagers and I don’t think there’s many things that do empower teenagers, and do ask them their opinion, and do let them be in charge.” Environment Champions also offers a number of wider social benefits. As an Environment Champions facilitator stated: “We can’t actually measure all the benefits…There are so many social benefits…We know that the message goes home, we’ve had team members saying ‘Oh, I was talking to my Mum yesterday, and she was talking to her next door neighbour’…you feel the ripple effect. The message really does go out.” The feedback received from Environment Champions suggests that organisations benefit socially due to the different mix of people involved in the teams. Such cross-departmental working is unusual in many organisations and participants have regularly commented that the chance to meet new friends from within the same organisation is a great benefit of the programme. Due to no resources being available, Global Action Plan currently cannot collect and measure these wider impacts and, as a result, the full benefits of the programmes are not captured.
5.3.3 Assessing the long-term impact Dutch evidence8 suggests that the behavioural changes achieved by EcoTeams last for up to two years after the programme has ended. No UK based data is available to assess the longevity of the programme’s impacts. Anecdotal evidence does suggest, however, that UK EcoTeams have continued to meet after the formal programme has ended. Further research is required to capture the full extent of the long-term changes the EcoTeam programme produces9.
8 Staats and Harland (1995); Staats et al (2004) 9 A post-doctoral researcher is in the process of being
appointed to work jointly with GAP and University College, London on the effectiveness of EcoTeams. Assessing the longitudinal effects of the programme may well be one area of research which is pursued.
Changing Environmental Behaviour: A review of the evidence from Global Action Plan
5.4 Behaviour change targets should be incorporated into schools and other educational establishments Action at School demonstrates that behaviour change projects within schools have an environmental, financial and educational benefit. By incorporating behaviour change programmes into their strategic thinking DfES and DEFRA can achieve many of their stated targets.
5.5 Government should show leadership by running behaviour change programmes within their central estate and incorporate them into their wider strategies Government has increasingly recognised the leadership role it can play in promoting sustainable development. It has set targets for making its buildings carbon neutral and has initiated a sustainable procurement strategy. These initiatives could be greatly reinforced by setting targets for running behaviour change programmes with its employees and giving Managers the space and time to implement these programmes effectively.
5.6 Government and industry should illustrate the impact of individual choice by phasing out environmentally damaging products and penalising environmentally harmful lifestyle choices Global Action Plan believes that people will respond positively to signals from Government and industry that demonstrate the importance of buying products and making choices that do are less environmentally damaging. Phasing out inefficient lightbulbs, making people pay more tax on inefficient cars would send a clear message to consumers.
7. Summary This report has presented evidence that proves the effectiveness of Global Action Plan’s programmes in changing people’s behaviour. There are many challenges to be overcome by both Global Action Plan and Government to increase the effectiveness of these programmes. We believe it is imperative that these challenges are met and that the success of the programmes is more widely replicated to address the growing level of environmental challenges that we face.
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