Local leadership - achieving more,
using less
SSN Conference on sustainable
consumption and production:
Stirling, 28.10.2005
Ian Christie
Surrey County Council/Green
Alliance/NEF
28 October 2005
SSN conference
The presentation
• ‘The buck stops everywhere’ - the
hard politics of environmental
sustainability
• Surrey’s approach to sustainable
development: story so far
• The ChangeLAB project
• Opportunities for local leadership
28 October 2005
SSN conference
The hard politics of ecosustainability
• From ‘point’ pollution to ‘diffuse’ impacts
• Carbon dioxide emissions - energy sector,
households, transport etc
• Nitrogen overload
• Air quality
• Constraints on water consumption
• Pressures on land for infrastructure
• Tom Burke - ‘the buck stops everywhere’
28 October 2005
SSN conference
The Need to Address
Lifestyles, Attitudes and Behaviour
Rise in consumption
outstrips gains in
resource efficiency
IMPROVED
TECHNOLOGY
IS ESSENTIAL
FOR
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT,
BUT NOT
ENOUGH…
28 October 2005
New technology can’t
increase supply of land
and biodiversity
Major shift to ecotechnologies needs
willingness to change
SSN conference
Surrey and SD - story so far
• ‘Problems of success’ in economy
• Lack of coherent SD strategy from Government to
date: hence ‘residuarity’ as strategy for local SD
proponents (Roger Levett)
• Congestion, resistance to new infrastructure, waste
volumes, vulnerability to climate change risks
• Limited scope for increasing supply of infrastructure so need for emphasis on demand management and
lifestyle change
• Acceptance of the agenda and language of
‘behaviour change’
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Our approach
• ESR Service : waste minimisation and
management, environment, economy
and in-house SD consultancy
• Behaviour change has to start in-house
• Target groups: SCC staff and systems,
enterprises, households and community
groups
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Our approach (cont.)
• “There is no limit to what you can achieve if
you let other people take the credit”.
• Identify areas of deficit: financial risk,
reputational risk, rhetoric vs reality
• Identify issues where other services’ interests
coincide with those of SD proponents: eg
efficiency savings, invest-to-save cases, BV,
CPA, affordable housing
• Where progress is speeding up: procurement,
waste minimisation and recycling
• Slow going: property, HR, energy, water
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Surrey SD programmes: work
in progress
• Changing our own activities - sustainable
procurement policy; Aalborg commitment ; energy
saving and CO2 reductions ; reducing waste and
boosting recycling
• Enterprise - reframing economic development work ;
business waste recycling ; Green Travel Plans ;
renewables
• Community - community dialogues on waste ;
Household Waste Guide; Sustainable Shopping
Guide ; It’s About Time campaign for waste reduction;
eco-schools and Primary Schools Earth Summit; ecoteams and work with WWF-UK
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Working with households and
community groups
• Avoid technical language of ‘SD’
• Start from shared perception of problems: eg
waste as entry point for wider discussions
• Focus on practical action, having established
sense of urgency
• Take messages and information to citizens in
context - eg supermarkets
• Social learning matters - eg eco-clubs, ecoschools
28 October 2005
SSN conference
We don’t know enough about
changing behaviour
• Many good projects on sustainable
consumption and production
• But no systematic base of knowledge on how
to influence lifestyles, attitudes and behaviour
effectively
• Increasing interest across SCC in behavioural
issues - not just related to environment
• Idea for the ChangeLAB project: an EUwide knowledge base on effective
behaviour change projects
28 October 2005
SSN conference
ChangeLAB – Main Objective 1
ChangeLAB will improve the capacity of regional
and local authorities across the EU to influence
consumer behaviour in the areas of water,
transport, energy and waste.
It will do this through drawing on existing effective
practice in different sectors within EU regions and
developing ways of measuring the effectiveness
of such activities.
28 October 2005
SSN conference
ChangeLAB – Main Objective 2
ChangeLAB will:
•
•
•
produce a database of European effective
practice in behaviour change for sustainable
consumption - focussing on waste, energy,
water and travel
provide a practical toolkit (“wizard”) to help
decision-making
disseminate findings to policymakers and
practitioners.
28 October 2005
SSN conference
ChangeLAB context
• Lisbon agenda
• Gothenburg Council
• 6th Environmental Action Plan
• Challenge of enlargement
• Global to local – the role of regional and local
authorities
• Closing the loop – regional and local authorities
linking to national policy and EU policy
28 October 2005
SSN conference
ChangeLAB in UK context
• Focus on behaviour change in new UK
Sustainable Development Strategy
• DEFRA working group on SCP
Evidence Base
• Sustainable Development Commission
Roundtable on Sustainable
Consumption
• NCC projects on sustainable lifestyles
28 October 2005
SSN conference
ChangeLAB – the basics
Lead Partner: Surrey County Council
Other partners: Regional Environment
Centre Estonia (EE), Municipality of Sykies
(GR); Head Office Regional Environmental
Centre (CEE); Regione Liguria (IT); Provincie
Utrecht (NL); City of Solna (SE); Hampshire
County Council (UK)
Funded by: INTERREG IIIC programme
Total budget: €1,597,251
ERDF budget:€914,037
Duration: January 2005-December 2007
28 October 2005
SSN conference
How do we influence
behaviour?
•
•
•
•
Initial research came up with four broad
types of approach used by Local
Authorities in Europe
Penalty/reward
Infrastructure (making it easy)
Education/awareness-raising
Social incentive/social learning
28 October 2005
SSN conference
ChangeLAB Partners and Need for
Behaviour Change (1)
• Surrey (UK) : Negative impacts of high economic
growth; focus on demand side in transport and waste.
• Province of Utrecht (NL): Water a particular
concern. Further work with citizens is necessary to
ensure more effective water management.
• Municipality of Sykies (Greece): Looking for
sustainable economy in all sectors
• Regione Liguria (Italy): Experience in environmental
education and expertise in energy .
28 October 2005
SSN conference
ChangeLAB Partners and Need for
Behaviour Change (2)
• City of Solna (SE): Densely populated; multi-family
dwellings, high employment. Interested in integrated
housing/retail/transport planning and related
behavioural change issues.
• Hampshire County Council (UK): Similar problems
to Surrey - need for large-scale change in attitudes
and behaviour in use of natural resources.
• Regional Environment Centre: Estonian country
office particularly interested in changing behaviour to
help promote more sustainable transport.
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Behaviour change in action
Surrey’s Golden Boot Challenge
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Eco-friendly car wash in the Netherlands
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Waste sorting training in an Estonian
kindergarten
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Why ChangeLAB (1)?
Behavioural change experience is often confined
within particular sectors or specialities.
ChangeLAB aims to maximise the potential to use
existing knowledge, encouraging the transfer of
experience not only between countries/regions,
but also between sectors - transport, waste, water
and energy.
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Why ChangeLAB (2)?
• There is little information on whether previous
initiatives have actually changed behaviour and by
how much.
• ChangeLAB aims to develop common criteria for the
assessment and monitoring of the effectiveness of
different interventions.
• It aims to do this by drawing on a wide pool of
experience across EU partner regions.
28 October 2005
SSN conference
What will ChangeLAB do?
•
Create an interactive Knowledge Database on existing
experience of changing behaviour, using different
methodologies and working with different sectors/target
groups
•
Develop criteria for assessing “successful” projects
•
Identify and refine effective methodologies with potential for
transfer to other sectors and target groups
•
Test the developed methodologies further through 7 pilot
actions in partner regions, designed to demonstrate the
potential for transferability.
•
Devise a set of practical tools for local decision makers in
authorities, organisations and agencies working on public
participation initiatives
28 October 2005
SSN conference
ChangeLAB so far
• Administrative structures in place
• Over 130 relevant projects collected from partner
regions and inputted to draft Knowledge Base
• Website set up
• Knowledge Base Workshop 23 September 2005 to
draw out conclusions from the data collection
exercise
• Work begun on the definition of the interactive
“wizard”
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Dissemination
•
•
•
•
•
Newsletters
Website www.changelabproject.org
Toolkit (wizard)
Final report
Events (Knowledge Base workshop;
regional event; final conference)
28 October 2005
SSN conference
ChangeLAB
CONTACT:
Kate Dracup-Jones
Project Coordinator
Tel:
+44 20 8541 7430
Fax:
+44 20 8541 8612
E-mail:kate.dracup-jones@surreycc.gov.uk
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Opportunities for local
leadership
• SD Strategy - focus on changing behaviour and
attitudes ; framework of Sustainable Communities
• Sustainable procurement: link to exemplar role,
reduced consumption and to community partners
• Gershon review - ensuring ‘efficiency’ includes
resource conservation/efficiency
• Changes in community strategy and CPA
• LAA
• Waste policy: impact of LATS, revision of national
strategy
• Climate policy
28 October 2005
SSN conference
Keep in touch
www.changelabproject.org
www.surreycc.gov.uk
heads.esr@surreycc.gov.uk
28 October 2005
SSN conference