2020 VISION FOR A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY
MELBOURNE SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY INSTITUTE
The Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute (MSSI) at the University of Melbourne, Australia, brings together researchers from different disciplines to help create a more sustainable society. It acts as an information portal for research at the University of Melbourne, and as a collaborative platform where researchers and communities can work together to affect positive change. This book can be freely accessed from MSSI’s website: www.sustainable.unimelb.edu.au.
Cite as: Pearson, C.J. (editor) (2012). 2020: Vision for a Sustainable Society. Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne Published by Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute in 2012 Ground Floor Alice Hoy Building (Blg 162) Monash Road The University of Melbourne, Parkville Victoria 3010, Australia Text and copyright © Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher. A Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available from the catalogue of the National Library of Australia at www.nla.gov.au 2020: Vision for a Sustainable Society, ISBN: 978-0-7340-4773-1 (pbk) Produced with Affirm Press www.affirmpress.com.au Cover and text design by Anne-Marie Reeves www.annemariereeves.com Illustrations on pages 228–231 by Michael Weldon www.michaelweldon.com Cover image © Brad Calkins | Dreamstime.com Proudly printed in Australia by BPA Print Group
Foreword
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he last two centuries have seen extraordinary improvements in the quality of human lives. Most people on earth today enjoy access to the necessities of life that was once available only to the elites. Most people enjoy longevity, health, education, information and opportunities to experience the variety of life on earth that was denied even to the rulers of yesteryear. The proportion of humanity living in absolute poverty remains daunting, but continues to fall decade by decade. The early 21st century has delivered an acceleration of the growth in living standards in the most populous developing countries and an historic lift in the trend of economic growth in the regions that had lagged behind, notably in Africa. These beneficent developments are accompanied by another reality. The improvements are not sustainable unless we make qualitative changes in the content of economic growth. The continuation of the current relationship between growth in the material standard of living and pressures on the natural environment will undermine economic growth, political
stability and the foundations of human achievement. The good news is that humanity has already discovered and begun to apply the knowledge that can reconcile continued improvements in the standard of living with reduction of pressures on the natural environment. The bad news is that the changes that are necessary to make high and rising standards of living sustainable are hard to achieve within our current political cultures and systems. Hard, but not impossible. That is a central message from this book, drawn out in Craig Pearson’s concluding chapter. This book introduces the reader to the many dimesions of sustainability, through wellqualified authors. Climate change is only one mechanism through which current patterns of economic growth threaten the natural systems on which our prosperity depend. It is simply the most urgent of the existential threats. Climate change is a special challenge for Australians. We are the most vulnerable of the
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developed countries to climate change. And we are the developed country with the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions per person. There are roles for private ethical decisions as well as public policy choices in dealing with the climate change challenge. This book is released at the time of ‘Rio+20’, a conference in Brazil to review the relatively poor progress we have made towards sustainability in the past 20 years, and soon after the introduction of Australia’s first comprehensive policy response to the global challenge of climate change. Australia’s emissions trading scheme with an initially fixed price for emissions permits comes into effect on 1 July 2012. The new policy discourages activities that generate greenhouse gases by putting a price on emissions. The revenue raised by carbon pricing will be returned to households and businesses in ways that retain incentives to reduce emissions. Part of the revenue will be used to encourage production and use of goods and services that embody low emissions. The policy has been launched in controversy. Interests that stand to gain from the discrediting of the policy argue that it is unnecessary either because the case for global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the associated climate change has not been proven, or that the new policy places a disproportionate burden on Australians. The health of our civilisation requires us to bring scientific knowledge to account in public policy. Everyone who shares the knowledge that is the common heritage of humanity has
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a responsibility to explain the realities to others wherever and whenever they can. The argument that the new policy places a disproportionate burden on Australians can be answered by seeking honestly to understand what others are doing. The critics of Australian policy argue that the world’s two largest national emitters of greenhouse gases, China and the United States, are doing little or nothing to reduce emissions, so that it is either pointless or unnecessary for us to do so. China has advanced a long way towards achieving its target of reducing emissions as a proportion of economic output by 40 to 45 per cent between 2005 and 2020. It has done this by forcing the closure of emissions-intensive plants and processes that have exceptionally high levels of emissions per unit of output, by imposing high emissions standards on new plants and processes, by charging emissionsintensive activities higher electricity prices, by subsidising the introduction of low-emissions activities, and by new and higher taxes on fossil fuels. China has introduced trials of an emissions trading system in five major cities and two provinces. This adds up to a cost on business and the community that exceeds any burden placed on Australians by the new policies – bearing in mind that the revenue from Australian carbon pricing is returned to households and businesses. The US Government has advised the international community of its domestic policy target to reduce 2005 emissions by 17 per cent by 2020. President Barack Obama said
to the Australian Parliament that all countries should take seriously the targets that they had reported to the international community, and made it clear that the United States did so. United States efforts to reduce emissions are diffuse but far-reaching. They now include controls on emissions from electricity generators, announced in March 2012, effectively excluding any new coal-based power generation after the end of this year unless it embodies carbon capture and storage. From the beginning of next year they will include an emissions trading system in the most populous and economically largest state, California. The United States is making reasonable progress towards reaching its emissions reduction goals, with some actions imposing high costs on domestic households and businesses. Australia has now taken steps through which we can do our fair share in the international effort, at reasonable cost. It would be much harder and more costly to do our fair share without the policies that are soon to take effect. What Australians do over the next few years will have a significant influence on humanity’s prospects for handing on the benefits of modern civilisation to future generations. This book will help Australians to understand their part in the global effort for sustainability. Ross Garnaut University of Melbourne 15 April 2012
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Contents Foreword by Ross Garnaut Table of Contents
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Author Biographies
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Drivers
1
1 Population Rebecca Kippen and Peter McDonald
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2 Equity Helen Sykes
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3 Consumption Craig Pearson
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4 Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change David Karoly
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5 Energy Peter Seligman
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People
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6
Ethics Craig Prebble
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7
Culture Audrey Yue and Rimi Khan
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8
Awareness and Behaviour Angela Paladino
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9
Local Matters Matter Kate Auty
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10 Public Wisdom Tim van Gelder
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11 Mental Health Grant Blashki
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12 Disease Peter Doherty
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13 Corporate Sustainability Liza Maimone
104
14 Governance John Brumby
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Natural Resources
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15 Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Rodney Keenan
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16 Water Hector Malano and Brian Davidson
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17 Food Sunday McKay and Rebecca Ford
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18 Zero Carbon Land-Use Chris Taylor and Adrian Whitehead
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Cities
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19 Changing Cities Peter Newman and Carolyn Ingvarson
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20 Affordable Living Thomas Kvan and Justyna Karakiewicz
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21 Built Environment Pru Sanderson
177
22 Infrastructure Colin Duffield
184
23 Transport Monique Conheady
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24 Adaptive Design Ray Green
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25 Handling Disasters Alan March
210
Outcomes
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26 Twenty Actions Craig Pearson
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Further Reading
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Index
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08 Awareness and Behaviour Angela Paladino
T
o create a sustainable society, consumers need to change and governments need to encourage them to change. But as we become more aware of our impact on the environment, we do not necessarily change our attitudes and behaviours. Why, despite mounting evidence, does the nature of awareness change? This chapter reviews industries that have made the biggest consumer shifts, looks at mechanisms used to prompt these shifts (such as brands and labels) and suggests ways to create a sustainable society.
Changing Awareness, Attitudes and Behaviours Using goods that have a minimal impact on the environment is becoming increasingly important. Heightened awareness of this often follows major weather events such as tropical storms, devastating floods, severe droughts and so on. In the past, consumers have reacted to such events with complacency and almost ambivalence; while a minority felt that such events could trigger a green revolution, the vast majority felt that the problem was too big for them to tackle and that they were not empowered to do so. Environmental concern has escalated in the last decade, and brought about changes
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in values and attitudes, as discovered by Paladino and Baggiere (2008) and Smith and Paladino (2010). As environmental problems and consumer awareness conflate, consumers are inclined to take more responsibility and change their daily behaviour to reduce environmental damage by recycling and purchasing ecologically sound products, as shown by researchers such as Montgomery and Stone (2009), and Paladino (2005). Demand for sustainable goods is growing. Consider, for example, the markets in hybrid cars, organic foods or renewable energy. Each has been pioneered by leading organisations that have built reputations for environmental conservation (eg, Toyota Corporation), or a range of smaller providers represented by visible suppliers (eg, Macro Foods at Woolworths for organics, and Origin Energy and AGL for renewable energy). In understanding consumption in these markets, we are able to gain a sense of the key determinants of green consumption. When reviewing organic market research, Smith and Paladino (2010) found a number of attributes rank as important influencers of people’s attitudes. The opinion of important people in one’s life – such as family, friends or peers – as well
Awareness and Behaviour
Attitudes
Knowledge
Subjective norms
Environmental concern
Intentions
Attitudes
Subjective norms
Familiarity
Health consciousness
Quality a Quality Qu lity
Top: Key influencers of environmental attitudes for Australian consumers (Subjective norms are the influence of family, friends and experts). Bottom: Key influencers of intentions to buy green for Australian consumers.
as familiarity are very important variables for the organic food market. They influence attitudes through to intentions and purchasing behaviour (see box on the next page). People delay or avoid purchasing organic food where it is not easily available, because of poor performance and reliability, high cost, a lack of transparency over service benefits, mistrust in the brand and an unknown environmental impact. Other barriers to purchasing are unclear labelling, lack of education to increase awareness and interest, and lack of consumer recognition (to make them ‘feel good’). When it comes to renewable energy, people’s attitudes are also influenced by their family, friends and experts. However, many
more factors influence intentions directly and indirectly. The following rankings have emerged as significant: (1) willingness to pay a premium; (2) attitudes; (3) green power awareness; (4) green participation; (5) altruism; (6) subjective norms and (7) knowledge. Renewable energy consumers are very sensitive to price, which suggests that the lack of visible benefit of renewable energy may be important. Participation in green initiatives is also significant, suggesting that the influence of neighbours and friends is again powerful. We can see that knowledge, attitudes, norms, familiarity/green participation and intentions are all pertinent to environmentally sound purchases. As the consumption of a
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2020
particular type of electricity is not visible to outsiders, consumers are less likely to be concerned about what others think about their consumption patterns. In this market, factors that stop consumers purchasing and switching suppliers include: lock-in, fixedterm contracts; situational factors, lifestyles and the excessive peak rates; set-up costs and usage risks; perception that technologies have ‘not been proven’, which presents a functional (perceived lack of reliability) and financial risk to consumers, that they are not willing to bear; and lack of assistance with installation, use and maintenance of apparatus such as solar panels. ‘Greenwashing’, or misleading consumers through the use of false green claims, also played a large role in disenchanting consumers in the 1990s and slowed the uptake of sustainable products. Greenwashing has been somewhat minimised today by a number of factors including increased product quality, government legislation and industry standards,
and clever marketing that highlights long-term cost savings to consumers. Examples such as long-life light bulbs and fuel savings gained by driving hybrid vehicles, have contributed to the acceleration of this uptake.
Towards a Sustainable Society Overall, the findings of various studies over a number of years suggest that consumers are changing, but the pace of change is slow. Studies show the emergence of two groups of consumers: those who feel that they can make an individual difference and those who feel that everyone must contribute to alleviate the environmental degradation that we all create. Generally, consumers want to be educated, and seek independent and objective information. If consumers feel that the problem of environmental degradation is too large to solve, they will not attempt to change their behaviour, believing any such effort to be futile. However, when they are guided on specific, feasible and achievable
Buying organic Increasing consumer concern for health and environment has resulted in increased attention for the purchase and consumption of organic food, as demonstrated by Smith and Paladino. This has driven an increase in organic research, especially as marketers seek to understand motivations behind consumer purchases of organic goods. This study showed strong support for the relationship between organic knowledge, subjective norms and environmental concern on organic attitudes. While health consciousness, quality, subjective norms and familiarity influenced purchase intentions, familiarity was the only variable found to exhibit a significant relationship with organic purchase behaviour. Image provided by Biological Farmer’s Association (BFA).
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Awareness and Behaviour
Renewable electricity: sparking debate Paladino and Baggiere showed that the purchase of sustainable electricity can be influenced by environmental knowledge, altruism, environmental concern, involvement in electricity purchases and friends. The study suggests that marketers should seek to increase the personal importance of a product to appeal to consumers’ environmental concern and altruism, increase consumers’ level of environmental knowledge and encourage word-of-mouth communications in order to increase the adoption of renewable energy. Consumers are becoming increasingly involved in their electricity purchase. The study indicates that consumers have long awaited objective information to help them make informed decisions, such as independent, unbiased and simple information on the environmental impact of each method of electricity generation (see chapter 6). Government leadership will also provide an incentive for consumers to act if people feel that everyone is contributing to the avoidance of environmental degradation. Sharing information between consumers and significant others also provides an impetus for change; consumers may switch to what their friends are using. Finally, it is important that energy providers also build a trustworthy reputation for themselves. Trust in energy providers can motivate consumers to purchase sustainable electricity.
actions that would assist with the prevention of environmental degradation – such as switching off lights and putting appliances on standby to reduce carbon emissions – consumers became much more amenable to change. We are well aware that behaviours vary, depending on context and circumstance. Similarly, the mismatch between attitudes, intentions and behaviours directly stems from context and circumstances. However, research also demonstrates that we are more likely to be able to predict behaviours if a specific attitude is favourably aligned towards the comparable behaviour. There is a consistency in attitudinal research that enables us to recommend some roads towards more sustainable behaviour awareness and change.
The Role of Price Consumers are not likely to embrace an alternative product if it comes at a premium. However, studies demonstrate that people are willing to pay more for products that provide key benefits not otherwise obtained from other suppliers. While sustainability is an essential purchase criterion, the consumer often evaluates this after price and quality. Companies must provide quality products that show a point of difference, and demonstrate environmental benefit in their production and use that appeals to consumers. Consumers must use price as a signal of quality, question the legitimacy of sustainable products and reward environmental beacons with their support.
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2020
In the know: reviewing the role and effectiveness of labelling and certification There is a lack of consistency and much confusion between labels, often even within the same sector, which means that many consumers don’t feel like they are being adequately informed. As such, the role of eco-labels becomes increasingly important. The organic food industry is a victim of this.
The energy rating label represents one of the most effective forms of simple and accurate energy saving information for consumers. Image provided by Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.
Research shows that approximately 50 per cent of consumers consider organic labelling to be unreliable (Smith and Paladino, 2010). This level of mistrust makes it more difficult for consumers to identify ‘fakes’ and, in turn, will negatively affect their purchases of organic goods. To address these concerns, we need to move towards national and international standards regarding the environmental impact of diverse product categories. Simplified labelling would also play a role.
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Terrachoice has helped people to understand the notion of greenwash using its seven sins typology. Image used with permission from Terrachoice.
Such a move has been the object of contentious debate in Australia, with the government deciding in December 2011 not to move forward with the adoption of traffic light labelling for food. This labelling system sought to provide quick and simple information for consumers to maximise the nutrition of their purchase. Evidence demonstrates that consumers don’t read detailed information, including, for example, the contents of nutrition labels on food packaging. Traffic light labelling sought to overcome this. However, more modifications are required before such a labelling system becomes approved by the government, not only in Australia but also in Europe (Sacks, 2011; Packham, 2011). This debate demonstrates the importance of labelling as a mechanism of behavioural change. *The first government-certified eco-label was The Blue Angel, started by the German government in 1978 and awarded by an independent jury to products that are environmentally friendlier than others serving the same use. Nowadays it is applied to about 11,500 products and services; see: www.ecolabelindex.com.
Awareness and Behaviour
The Role of Information Consumers are increasingly aware that their purchases impact on the environment, and are receptive to pertinent information. This information is of greater benefit to environmentally concerned, altruistic consumers as they are least likely to be price sensitive. Research also indicates that while consumers do not wish to be overloaded with information, they do want to be accurately informed about environmental problems, the impact of their behaviours on environmental degradation and how they can make feasible changes to their behaviours. Consumers need to feel that they have control over the changes that they make. Therefore, informing them of the environmental impact of each purchase is critical. Companies must provide unbiased, simple information to minimise misperceptions and build trust. The introduction of sustainable product standards will simplify information for consumers, assisting them in making attitudinal and behavioural changes. Consumers must demand unambiguous and timely information so they can make better-informed choices.
The Importance of Sharing The sharing of information between consumers and significant others also provides an impetus for change in that people may switch to what their friends are using – or what a person they aspire to be like is using. Research shows strong, consistent results that demonstrate the driving role of subjective norms and interpersonal influence.
Companies should enlist experts or people with similar values who will encourage consumers to pay attention. Furthermore, it can prompt people to discuss arising issues with friends, family and peers, increasing the dissemination of information. Consumers should share new information with friends, family and peers. Discussing environmental issues and purchases helps to make people more mindful of their purchases.
ACTIONS FOR 2020 Consumer attitudes and consumption are changing, and the degree of change varies between consumers in diverse industries. However, there is one element of consistency that threads through all sectors: the urgent need for concise, simple and understandable information for consumers. To activate change in attitudes and consumption, consumers require digestible information that is unbiased and trustworthy. The bulk of this responsibility lies with government and industry bodies. They need to provide consumers with the tools to recognise sustainable products as viable alternatives, and enable decision-making through the use of mandatory cues and stimulus such as labels and certifications. This should be supported by an accompanying publicity campaign to draw consumer attention to the role of these labels. It would not only simplify the process of product evaluation for consumers but present sustainable products as attractive options in the fast-changing consumer market.
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Further Reading Awareness and Behaviour Montgomery, C., Stone, G. (2009). Revisiting consumer environmental responsibility: A five nation cross-cultural analysis and comparison of consumer ecological opinions and behaviors. International Journal of Management & Marketing Research 2, 35–58. Packham, B. (2011). Food Manufacturers win as government rejects traffic light labelling plan. The Australian, 30 November 2011. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/food-manufacturers-win-as-governmentrejects-traffic-light-labelling-plan/story-e6frg8y6-1226210280213 Paladino, A. (2005). Understanding the Green Consumer: An Empirical Analysis. Journal of Customer Behaviour 4, 69–102. Paladino, A. (2010). Green Consumers: Is the Prospect Blue? Insights 10: 60-65. http://insights.unimelb.edu.au/ vol8/10_Paladino.html Paladino, A., Baggiere, J. (2008). ‘Are We “Green”? An Empirical Investigation Of Renewable Electricity Consumption.’ In: Borghini, McGrath and Otnes, eds. European Advances in Consumer Research 8, Milan, Italy, 340. Rundle-Thiele, S., Paladino, A., Apostol, S. Jr. (2008). Lessons Learned from Renewable Electricity Marketing Attempts: A Case Study, Business Horizons, 51, 181–190. Sacks, G (2011). States should stand up to the food industry on traffic light labelling. The Conversation. www. theconversation.edu.au/states-should-stand-up-to-the-food-industry-on-traffic-light-labelling-4504 Smith, S., Paladino, A. (2010). ‘Eating Clean & Green? Investigating Consumer Motivations towards the Purchase of Organic Food’, Australasian Journal of Marketing 18, 93–104. Yeoh, M., Paladino, A. (forthcoming) ‘Prestige and Environmental Behaviors: Does Branding Matter?’ Journal of Brand Management.