PLYMOUTH CITY COUNCIL: Carbon Reduction Study
Research Debrief
June 2011
1
CONTENTS
Strategic Overview
Research Objectives
Methodology Summary
Main Findings
–
Attitudes to Carbon Reduction Issues
–
Domestic Residents
–
Landlords
–
SMEs
Next Steps: Action Plan
STRATEGIC OVERVIEW
•
•
Plymouth City Council is one of 9 local authorities that have been
selected as national pilots, looking at the best ways of reducing
carbon dioxide emissions
Ambitious targets have been set, to reduce CO2:
−
by 20% by 2013
−
by 60% by 2020
−
by 80% by 2050
•
The action plan is focussed on businesses and industry, but will
also encompass the general public, and social marketing
campaigns will be conducted aimed at changing behaviours
which produce carbon dioxide
•
This research project will help to explore attitudes to these
issues, in order to identify the types of messages and actions that
will be most effective
3
STRATEGIC OVERVIEW
Before the fieldwork began a series of meetings and discussions
revealed the following priorities:
•
Owners of domestic properties – owner-occupiers and landlords
– can have a considerable impact on their carbon footprints by
attending to three highly cost-effective enhancements: 1.
Insulating cavity walls 2. Insulating the loft thoroughly 3.
Replacing old boilers
•
Transport creates a substantial amount of preventable carbon
dioxide which can be addressed by local actions
•
Central Government/EU policy has focussed on larger business
users of energy which largely excludes SMEs. Hence, the
importance of encompassing smaller companies in this national
pilot, and understanding their likely triggers within the scope of
our study
•
With thanks to PCC staff and to Exeter University for their input
and advice during the scoping stage. These insights helped to
focus this study on audiences who can make a real difference
4
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Overall Research Objective: to understand attitudes to carbon reduction,
and to identify the best ways of changing behaviours
-
How do people feel about climate change? To what extent do they accept their own
contribution to the problem, do they have a sense of ownership for the issue?
-
Do they understand the likely impact of carbon dioxide emissions, and to what
extent do they embrace the need for them to reduce their own carbon footprint?
-
What are the barriers to making changes in behaviour?
-
What kinds of triggers are likely to be most effective?
-
What awareness is there for Government schemes to encourage behaviour change?
And how do they feel about these schemes – have they taken part? If not, why not?
Which are most likely to encourage their participation?
-
Which audiences are most likely to engage, and which are least likely to?
5
METHODOLOGY SUMMARY
SCOPING MEETING
DISCUSSION GUIDE/STIMULI CO-CREATION
FOCUS GROUPS – OWNERS & LANDLORDS
SME DEPTHS/MINI-GROUPS
ANALYSIS
DEBRIEF
POST-DEBRIEF IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT
QUANTIFICATION
6
METHODOLOGY
• 2 Focus Groups with home-owners
– Split by household income
– Recruited from postal codes with a high likelihood of cavity walls
• 2 Focus Groups with landlords
–
across a range of numbers of rental properties (from 1 to 10+)
• 2 Mini-groups and 7 depth interviews with SMEs
–
–
–
–
Aiming for a range of industry sectors and size
3 depth interviews conducted face to face and 4 on the phone
Fieldwork all took place during May 2011
All fieldwork and analysis conducted by Carolyn Bird and Simon Strutt
Fieldwork spread across 3 separate samples
We would encourage more extensive fieldwork amongst key target groups
And quantification of attitudes remains strongly recommended
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
MAIN FINDINGS:
Attitudes to Carbon Reduction Issues
8
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
Different perspectives – different segments
There were a huge range of perspectives:
• Some were convinced about Global Warming and the role of the human race in
causing it: ‘I think the human race has contributed to global warming, definitely
contributed’ ‘The evidence is getting to the point now that it's hard to say there
isn't a correlation between human activities and the statistics coming out with
regard to climate change’
• Though for some, doubts remained: ‘I'm a believer. I'm not sure it can be
proven. But recent changes have been so drastic, and given what we do it makes
sense that we’re at least exacerbating what's happening, even if we’re not the
main cause of it’ ‘I think we’re having an effect on the climate, nobody really
knows for certain’
• Extreme Weather Events (real or perceived) seemed for many to be the most
convincing evidence for Global Warming: ‘Over here I think it's happening more
often, Boscastle, but since then we've had Tewkesbury and lots of other things….
Bangladesh…it is becoming more and more a case’ ‘so many weird freak weather
conditions’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
11
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
Different perspectives – different segments
• ‘Tend to be Good’: Some followed the established advice on climate
change – but largely because they were ‘pretty good anyway’: ‘It's
just a consciousness of doing your bit, not just reducing your bills but
trying to keep the planet safe’ ‘I don’t like waste anyway so I try not
to waste’ ‘I'm a little bit of a goody, goody I guess, it's mainly
altruistic and just feeling I should be doing the decent thing’
• This segment often talked about avoiding waste as being part of a
good upbringing and sound education: ‘I am very much trying to be
environmentally friendly, I think it's also the way I've been brought up
as well, it's watching the pennies aspect. My mum was always like
that’ ‘There's no embarrassment in Plymouth about living frugally’
‘I've always encouraged my children to be frugal really. It's not that
we can't afford it it's just stupid to be wasteful isn't it’ ‘It's education
I think’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
12
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
Different perspectives – different segments
But we had shades of scepticism from a large minority across the
sample:
•Either thinking that we may not be the cause of any climatic variations ‘what
we’re doing (is) a drop in the ocean’ and several mentioned volcanoes as
putting the human contribution in the shade: ‘I'm still not convinced it's
mankind that’s actually making that much, I'm sure I've read somewhere that
volcanoes give out 8 times as much carbon as we ever produce’ ‘Some of it's a
load of bull. A volcano recently kicked out something like 10 years worth of what
we’re doing in the cars, so come on it's so small’
•In particular, the idea that this is just another of the earth’s natural climatic
cycles was commonly mentioned: ‘the earth has gone through ice ages and hot
periods through its history before we were ever here’ ‘The earth over the
generations, centuries has gone like that anyway, cycle, it has been a whole lot
warmer and it has been a lot colder. So I don't think it is a worry, I don't think
you can make much difference’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
13
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
Different perspectives – different segments
•
•
•
Or they sensed some kind of conspiracy: ‘There's a lot of people with selfserving motives’ ‘I think Governments, successive Governments are over
obsessive about the whole issue, it’s a damned good reason to tax’ ‘I think a
lot of it is just a con’ ‘I think sometimes there's a lot of people jump on the
bandwagon, especially politicians, green issues right I’ll get votes for that if I
say I'm going to do something’
Or that there isn’t much that they can do about it – largely focussing on the
UK impact being insignificant: ‘this country seems to do it a lot, America
and China don’t care…if everyone else is not bothering you're on a hiding to
nothing’ ‘it’s like a drop in the ocean, you could be slogging yourself to death
and everybody else is not bothering’ ‘if everybody was doing the same’ ‘You
look at China all that pollution, are they doing anything, look at America look
at all the big cars there’
Or they blamed others – public transport, retailers etc: ‘They ask you to
do these things but they don’t provide the means for you to do it’ ‘The
shops don’t make it easy either with the packaging’ ‘the Government needs
to step in and make sure that the big stores don’t have so much packaging’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
14
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
Different perspectives – different segments
• Confusion (urban myths?) was widespread, and many were happy to admit
it: ‘I'm sure I read the production of solar panels is way worse carbon
footprint than coal anyway. I think the chemicals used poison the
environment’ ‘you hear so many different conflicting sides’ ‘I often think
about all these electric cars and bicycles, you're plugging in a 3 pin plug and
to get that electricity to that you’ve either got a diesel generator pumping
away somewhere with emissions’
• And others were just not bothered: ‘A lot of people say what about the
next generation, well I just think 3 or 4 generations I'm not going to be
here, so. I mean that sounds horrible but I really don’t care’ ‘I suppose
there is evidence to support it but then if you worry about it all the time you
wouldn’t actually be able to live would you’ ‘it doesn’t really worry me’ ‘I’m
going to confess to being totally bloody disinterested’ (does climate change
affect your business decisions?) ‘No it doesn’t, not really’
Following a blitz of media coverage over many years, views
seem fairly well established
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
15
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
Segmental perspectives
Tend to ‘be good’
LIGHT GREEN
SENSIBLY FRUGAL
Sceptical about
Global Warming
CONFUSED/NOT
BOTHERED
BLAMER/
DEPENDENCY
DARK
GREEN
Embrace Global
Warming
MERCENARY
SCEPTICS
Less good
NOTE: we didn’t meet dark greens during this study (although
we have in previous environmental projects)
Home-owners
Landlords
16
SMEs
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
Scepticism
Belief
Not bothered
Part of general good behaviour
Confused
Understand
Selfish
Doing their bit
Lead from the front
What about the Chinese!
Someone else needs to pay
Prepared to make an effort
Money
Money
A diversity of views…
but everyone is concerned about the impact on their finances
– fuel bills and the cost of making changes
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
17
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
The Plymouth perspective
• When asked how Plymouth as a City impacts on carbon issues, traffic was
cited as a major issue, with the large increase in the number of cars over
recent years ‘the amount of cars coming in, yes, the amount of people
coming into Plymouth, it’s gone really big in the last 15 years’ ‘fumes’
• Some thought that Plymouth populations and those in the surrounding areas
were better behaved than most: ‘This part of the country, particular
Devon and Cornwall I think we are quite on the ball with regard to things
like this…we want to keep it beautiful’ ‘Everybody I know has an allotment
or grows vegetables, everybody I know shops in charity shops’ ‘I know
quite a few people who make their own clothes, just a load of hippies really’
• But perhaps less well advanced on insulation etc: ‘so many of the properties
are old and not well insulated’
Plymouth is thought to be a frugal place - for reasons of
history and lack of money
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
18
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
“Have you ever measured your carbon footprint?”
• Only two in our sample – across all three cells – had ever tried to do this: ‘It's
just a phrase to me’
• Many were confused or unsure of how to do it: ‘When you say carbon
footprint, where are you walking, what footprint are you talking about?’ ‘I
haven't, no. I wouldn’t have a clue’ ‘how do you measure it?’ ‘You're buying
bananas then it's how much energy it's taken to grow it, packaging, send it
from the Dominican Republic and then you drive in your car to the
supermarket…how can you quantify that?’
• Two SMEs claimed to have measured their carbon footprint: ‘I did a couple of
years ago before I actually turned over to low energy light bulbs. I think I was
in about the 2¼ to 2½ tonnes per year. I've reduced (mileage) down to less
than 10 (‘000 miles per year) now. I think the light bulbs are a token gesture
really. It does have an effect but I think the…one thing that really stood out
was…insulation’ ‘I've tried on the website before, it said if I reduced the
electricity usage by 10% I would save something like 320 tonnes of carbon a
year’
Very little knowledge about how to do this – and some
unfamiliar with the expression
19
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
THE MARKETING WORKS
BEHAVIOUR CHANGE MODEL
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4½ STEPS TO CHANGE BEHAVIOUR
Our programme for identifying the levers of change
1. Background Context
• How does the behaviour fit
into their attitudes to life?
Their aims, aspirations and
pressures
2. Understanding Current
Behaviour:
• How do they behave
currently and why?
3. Barriers to Change:
• Why don’t they change their
behaviour – what stops them?
What gets in the way?
4. Triggers:
• What might trigger a
change?
22
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
4½ STEPS TO CHANGE BEHAVIOUR
The extra half step…
Behavioural Economics
says…
• Sometimes, our actions are
not driven by rational
motivations
And we may struggle to
explain them…
• What we say may not be
what we do
Motivations may not be what
they appear:
• We need to listen out for peer
pressure, emotional triggers,
the unconscious and intuition
Nudges:
• This can lead us to identify less
rational nudges which can create
behaviour which catches on
across tribes
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
HISTORIC BENCHMARKS
Environmental Behaviour Change
Why
change?
Enforcement
3. Carbon
Reduction
1. Recycling
2. Dog mess
Save the planet
Cut waste
Risk of disease
Disgusting!
?
Yes: £50 fine
?
Charging in
some locations
How?
Collection from
doorstep
Free equipment
from retailers
?
Peer
pressure?
Very important
– visible
evidence!
Very important
– easily spotted
– especially
among dog
owning
community
?
Home-owners
Landlords
24
SMEs
MAIN FINDINGS:
Carbon Reduction – Domestic Residents
25
DOMESTIC RESIDENTS CONTEXT:
Existing Insulation
• Most had insulated their properties to a greater or lesser extent, including loft
insulation, cavity wall insulation, new windows and double glazing.
• The motivation varied, with several taking advantage of Government
schemes and grants either directly or through Companies who had grants.
‘Because I was on benefits at the time it was a Government incentive’
• For some, it was done as part of an ongoing scheme to upgrade and improve
their homes ‘he put insulation in behind the walls, but that’s only in the rooms
we’ve decorated’ ‘it just needed to be done, it was mixture of everything, a
house should have insulation now shouldn’t it?’
• For others the main motivation was warmth and comfort ‘purely because the
place was freezing cold’
• There was mixed views on the efficacy of the improvements with some saying
that their heating bills had reduced ‘ £27 a month electric I’m paying at the
moment, there’s 4 of us in the property. It used to be £27 a month but it was
only just me in the house’ whilst others reported little change. ‘They re-did
the loft insulation and also the cavity wall insulation, I don’t think it’s made
much difference, any of it. My neighbour says the same, not affected the fuel
bill’ ‘I don’t think the insulation makes any difference’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
26
DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Spontaneous: “What would encourage you to be more energy efficient?”
•
•
•
The need for more information, education and expert advice was cited. ‘I’d
like to insulate the house but I don’t know where to start and no-one seems
able to advise me’ ‘I often think about solar heating, I think that’s a subject
we could all do with knowing more about’
And they would need to be convinced that the financial rewards would make
the effort worth their while ‘knowing exactly how much it would cost upfront
and what the rewards would be and being more specific, we’d be able to
make an informed decision’
With regard to travel; free public transport, better public transport, installing
trams and more cycle lanes might help, but the convenience of the car will
be difficult to beat. ‘We’re entitled to get free bus passes but we haven’t
bothered, we use the car’
Apathy and cynicism are high with this target group
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
27
DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
3 main reasons you might make a change?
• We asked them to identify the three main reasons that they might consider
changing their behaviour. They struggled to identify any reasons at all. ‘I
can’t think of any ways’
• However saving money was the main motivation ‘I might buy a smaller car
and that would save me money on petrol’ ‘cost benefits to me and the family’
• Evidence and proof that changing their behaviour would have some impact on
climate change was also felt to be important. ‘Before I’m prepared to spend
money which I haven’t got, I’d like some concrete proof that the carbon
footprint is causing the problem’
• There were several minority views including a vastly improved public transport
system; to benefit mankind/our children’s future, and also social pressure, (as
with dog fouling and smoking in public places), which could give the impetus
needed. ‘We did in fact reduce our cars because we didn’t want to be seen as
driving Chelsea tractors’ ‘if I could see everyone else was doing the same, I’d
know it was having a more positive effect’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
28
DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
3 main reasons stopping you from making a change?
• We asked them to identify the three main barriers stopping them from making
a change and once again money, education/information and other people doing
it too were cited. ‘I am perfectly happy to do it if Jo Bloggs is doing it and Mr
Smith and Mr Brown are doing it, but I don’t want to be the crusader who does
it’
• There was a sense of wanting to blame others – the authorities, the
Government and other people for not pulling their weight. ‘If the dustmen did
their work properly, they leave more mess behind them than they take away’
‘lack of transport facilities, I’d get the bus if there was one’ ‘I don’t think the
Government has actually come out clearly and led the way on it’
• As well as a sense of futility that their little bit wouldn’t make any difference
‘there’s nothing I can do about it, I can’t change my carbon footprint to what I
would like, you’ve got to be practical’
• And resentment about being told what to do all the time. ‘I don’t drop litter, I
don’t waste things, I don’t tip oil down the drains, I don’t do anything, I don’t
overfill my bin or anything like this, but all the time you’re being criticised and
told'
Rational and emotional factors at play here
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
29
DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Design a poster to change behaviour
We asked them to design a poster that describes a scheme
that would change the behaviour of people like them, and
their ideas included:
– Saving money
– Being paid money as an incentive
– Explaining what a carbon footprint is
– Taking pride
– Showing the world coming to an end
– Giving a better future to our children
– ‘you could show a messy picture of the place or a
really awful place that’s been devastated by
something or if you treat it properly you could have
this, you have a rather utopia looking picture’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
30
DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Stimuli
• We showed Domestic Residents 11 ‘Broad Messages’ to encourage reduced
carbon emissions. There was a wide spread of winning ideas but with the most
popular and persuasive messages being no. 3 and no. 8
• No.3
‘SAVE MONEY BY SAVING POWER – E.G. DON’T LEAVE
LIGHTS AND TV ON WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN THE
ROOM’.
Many agreed with the statement and confirmed that they already do this ‘it’s
commonsense’ ‘that’s automatic’. There was debate in one of the groups about
whether switching on and off costs more than leaving on ‘if you leave them on
they cost less than flicking them on and off’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
31
DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Stimuli
• No.8
PLYMOUTH WILL BE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IF WE
CAN REDUCE OUR CARBON EMISSIONS – HELPING TO
MAKE US ONE OF EUROPE’S FINEST AND MOST
VIBRANT WATER FRONT CITIES’.
The initial reaction was positive ‘that appeals to me’ ‘that’s more like it’ ‘if we could
get people to reduce their emissions it would look nicer as a matter of course’. They
responded positively to the idea that Plymouth could become a better City and a
more attractive tourist centre. However, they did want more information about how
this could be achieved and the majority were cynical and curious. ‘Is carbon
emission visible?’ ‘People in Paris aren’t going to come to Plymouth because they’ve
got low carbon emissions, who cares, they want to come for what facilities you
produce, what you offer them’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
32
DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Specific Stimuli ideas – most popular
• We showed respondents a further 9 specific ideas and asked for their response.
The most popular was no. 6 followed by numbers 4 and 5
• No. 6
‘COSY DEVON: CAVITY WALL INSULATION FOR £99
AND/OR LOFT INSULATION FOR £99 (IF YOU
CURRENTLY HAVE LESS THAN 100MM OF INSULATION).
This was very well received ‘sounds good to me’ ‘that’s more like it’
• No. 4 ‘Energy saving trust. Phone 0800512012 for free and impartial
advice on energy saving grants and offers’. There were a few grumbles about
free phone numbers but some had heard of the Energy Saving Trust. ‘I’ve heard of
it, I think I have been in touch with them. I think that’s the way I might have got
my roof insulation’.
• No. 5 ‘Cosy Devon: Free cavity wall insulation and loft insulation if you’re
over 70 (or over 60 with a household income of less than £18,000 per
year, or if you’re on benefit). Again this was felt to be very good and there was
some recognition of it as an existing scheme ‘they’ve already done that one’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
THE ANSWER FOR DOMESTIC RESIDENTS:
Key Triggers
Cosy Devon
financial
incentives
1. Money
saving
Switch it off
2. Plymouth
pride
Save
money on
fuel
3. Advice
Plus Nudging…
Plymouth will
be a better
place to live
Energy
Saving
Trust
Peer pressure – make it
clear that everyone’s
doing it
Carbon reduction and Climate Change issues are becoming a ‘given’.
Now they would suggest financial help – and could be motivated by
pride in Plymouth.
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
MAIN FINDINGS:
Carbon Reduction – Landlords
40
LANDLORD CONTEXT:
Existing Insulation
•
•
•
As with residents, most had insulated their properties or had plans to do so.
And some, especially those with many properties, knew a good deal about
it: ‘Yes we've got the standard requirement for loft insulation’ ‘I'm looking
into getting one of our flats done at the moment, it doesn’t come up to
current specifications, it's changed in the last couple of years’
The main motivation was to do with cost saving – and many mentioned the
recent increases in fuel bills: ‘It's more and more these days down to
cost…as the prices started to go up of fuel it is making me think’ ‘It's the
cost of heating a property….the flats have all been done in the last 18
months…loft insulation as well they had….the more insulation you’ve got the
more efficient it's going to be to live there’
Some were motivated by what they thought was a legal requirement – but
there was little certainty on this issue: ‘EPC, Energy Performance Certificates
will have a bearing on people looking for rental properties. You’ve got to
have an EPC’ (Have you got EPC?) ‘No’…’We haven't been asked. If the
tenant actually asked for it then you'd look into it, but I've never been
asked’ …’No I haven't’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
41
LANDLORD CONTEXT:
Existing Insulation (cont)
•
•
For some, humidity, damp and condensation can result from increasing
insulation – and as tenants come and go they may not take steps to
minimise the negative impacts of damp: ‘It's finding that balance between
insulating a property and then creating a sealed box where no air actually
circulates around it at all’ ‘If we’re talking about insulation keeping places
warm I think there's several issues. That's keeping the humidity down and
tenants do tend to dry their washing inside’ ‘It's a huge problem. I've
banned them now from doing any drying of any washing’
There were mixed views on the efficacy of insulation. Most felt that
insulation did reduce heating bills – but not everyone: ‘we've insulated as
much as we can, obviously we have double-glazing as well, we've insulated
the roof to more than the minimum required depth. The wind blows through
the house so we can insulate as much as we like and I don’t think we’re
going to achieve a warm house’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
42
LANDLORD CONTEXT:
Cavity Wall Insulation/Second Skin
•
•
•
•
Some were not sure whether they had cavity walls or not: ‘I've no idea’
Some found it rather intimidating – and potentially costly: (would you
consider it?) ‘I think I’ll start with the smaller things first, that sounds like a
big job. I've absolutely no idea how you would start filling cavity walls, how
do they do that?’
But others seemed more clued up: ‘I don't know which firm it was, they
came around, it was Government grants and they're doing £149 to insulate
the cavity. I've got 1 tenant that’s unemployed so that one gets done free’
Most thought second skin insulation sounded very expensive and a lot of
effort: (second skin for £5,000?) ‘£149 it needs to be’ ‘It would be an
immense amount of work though wouldn’t it, whether it was outside or
inside, it would be a huge amount of work going around all those windows
and doorways’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
43
LANDLORD CONTEXT:
Existing Insulation (cont)
•
•
There was some debate about tenant loyalty. Some are fickle, and many
landlords resented investing in them: ‘Sometimes a tenant will come in and
pay a months rent in advance and then he's gone within a month’
But other landlords think the investment in insulation will result in greater
loyalty – improving financial return and reducing hassle: ‘It purely and
simply made sense for everybody. The bills are less, you're going to get
more satisfied tenants and it's helping to improve the insulation qualities of
the house, make it easier to maintain and let’
Landlord motivations can vary – and this impacts on insulation decisions
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
44
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Spontaneous: “What would encourage you to be more energy efficient?”
•
•
•
Peer pressure was mentioned once or twice: ‘My children changed my
behaviour because they do so much of this stuff now at school they come
back and question what I'm doing in the home’
But self-interest was by far the most commonly mentioned motivator: ‘For
you to do something that’s good for the environment it has to be good in
some other way…a good use of money, or this will make your house
warmer, there needs to be some benefit to it’
And for some, tenant satisfaction has a value: ‘But if you're improving your
property it will ultimately benefit you because the turnover of your tenants
probably… if you have a satisfied customer’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
45
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Spontaneous: “What kinds of things would you consider?”
•
•
•
Insulation and recycling were the most often mentioned – very
widespread behaviours, with insulation increasing comfort and saving
money, and recycling being easy to do
One or two mentioned:
– Reducing car use
– Composting
– Using a water butt
– Wearing jumpers (instead of turning the heating up)
– Drying clothes on the line rather than using a tumble drier.
There was also some enthusiasm for the idea of photo-voltaics – though
mentioning the cost barrier at the same time: ‘I'd like to have solar panels
but they're so expensive…it was about £6500. I'm working it out saying how
much money am I going to save, I'm in my 60’s now, it just wasn’t feasible’
‘I know there was a guy down our way, he put in the solar panels on the
basis of a particular (feed in tariff) figure and then they changed it and it
wasn’t economic’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
46
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
3 main reasons you might make a change?
• We asked them to identify the three main reasons that they might consider
changing their behaviour.
• Again, saving money was the main motivation ‘Primarily for me it's going to
be cost, it's a constant juggling act at the moment with the cost of food, cost
of petrol’ ‘Cost, money because at the end of the day it is a business’
• And convenience can help to nudge them: ‘If you live in a city actually
having to travel around in a car is almost an encumbrance…it's the hassle’
• Happy tenants were mentioned by some: ‘Tenant satisfaction it's obviously
going to lower their bills, encourage them to look after the property, it's them
having a stake, not in the ownership but making it feel like theirs. Fabric of
the building, looking after the property’
• For our Greener landlords, environmental issues were included as part of the
motivation: ‘Concern, I'm concerned about carbon footprint…if you do all
these things you just know you’ve done your bit’ ‘Efficient use of energy.
Less waste. Less cost’
• And some felt that ‘living frugally is a Plymouth thing’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
47
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
3 main reasons stopping you from making a change?
• We asked them to identify the three main barriers stopping them from making
a change and once again money was high on the list: ‘The cost of any works
that you have done, it will put you off actually having it done straightaway’
(barriers?) ‘Cost of installing the equipment’ ‘Reasons for not doing more –
cost without a doubt. Not having enough knowledge, not enough advice’
– And help with finance was sometimes criticised because of the detail:
‘That boiler scheme that came out, it wasn’t out for long enough. They
were giving £600, your boiler had to be over a certain age. You had to go
through British Gas’ ’Their prices are way up. To change a boiler was
about 4 grand, you could get it done for half that price’
• Information - about what to do and what help is available – was also in the
top 3 for many ‘Lack of information, confusing information…is this the right
one to do or is somebody going to come along in 6 months time and say that
wasn’t the right one to do’ ‘You just need a leaflet that tells you what grants
are available, what is the standard to which it should be done to in terms of
the thickness, any other things you could be doing as a landlord, landlady to
make the property more efficient’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
48
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
3 main reasons stopping you from making a change? (cont)
• Hassle: many landlords have busy lives juggling family, work and property
management – hence lack of time can be a barrier: ‘inconvenient or
impractical’ ‘Time to sort it out, if it takes you hours and hours to work out
what you need, you're just not going to do it’ ‘The effort involved, time to
research, where you go for the information, just finding someone who is
reliable and trustworthy’ ‘if I'm going to do something and it's going to take 6
weeks to do, have I got time to do that’
– And the risk of dodgy suppliers adds to the hassle factor: ‘Going for that
reliable and trustworthy workman that isn't going to rip you off. Insulation
for lofts has the same kind of tag attached to it that double-glazing has’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
49
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Ideas for a poster to change behaviour
• We asked for their spontaneous ideas for a poster that
describes a scheme/message to change the behaviour of
people like them. Their ideas largely reflected perceived
triggers and barriers:
• Help with funding: ‘50% off your solar panel installation,
buy one get one free. On all houses’
• Green messages: ‘Work with us and improve life…add in
a phone number, e-mails. I was thinking of panels,
insulation, do the whole lot’ ‘Plymouth City Council is
concerned for our planet and your pocket’
• And help with information: ‘exhibition of home insulation
and energy packets including solar. Across the top of it
have ‘we will pay some for you’ ’ ‘Some sort of seminar
or function so people tell you how and what is best to
do. Approved companies like the Which magazine where
you get the best buy for money’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
50
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Broad Messages: winning ideas
• We showed the landlords 11 ‘Broad Messages’ to encourage reduced carbon
emissions (the same messages as residents). The most popular and
persuasive messages were to do with saving money, or making
Plymouth/the world a better place. The two favourite money saving
messages were:
• No.3
‘SAVE MONEY BY SAVING POWER – E.G. DON’T
LEAVE LIGHTS AND TV ON WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN
THE ROOM’.
Regarded as sensible, common sense and straightforward: ‘keep it simple’ ‘not
trying to blind us with science’ ‘a good reminder’ ‘logically if you put the light
off your bill is going to go down’. Some thought it didn’t offer much in the way
of new information: ‘an old one’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Broad Messages: winning ideas cont.
• No.4
‘INSULATE AND DRAUGHT-PROOF YOUR HOME –
YOU’LL BE WARMER AND SAVE POUNDS OFF YOUR
FUEL BILL’.
Regarded as a clear message, and ideal for recessionary times: ‘it’s giving
people the money aspect’ ‘in today’s climate that’s what people are interested
in’. One or two did point out the need to balance investment against the likely
saving: ‘need to weigh up cost vs benefit’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
52
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Broad Messages: winning ideas
• And the two winning messages to do with making Plymouth/the world a
better place were:
• No.8 ‘Plymouth will be a better place to live if we can reduce our
carbon emissions – helping to make us one of Europe’s finest and
most vibrant water front cities’. They liked the ‘feel’ of this message, and
were motivated by some level of pride in Plymouth: ‘nice idea’ ‘quite
impressive’ ‘I like the idea they’re comparing us to other European cities,
which is a first for Plymouth…instead of being a poor relation’. In one group
there was a suggestion that this could lead to an award: ’like the Blue Flag
award – a flag award for carbon footprint’
• No.1 ‘Reduce your carbon emissions and make the world a better
place for future generations’. One group in particular thought this was the
fundamental message, everything else being in support of it: ‘that’s the start’
‘the bottom line’ ‘the others are just things you can do’ ‘I would like to make
the world a better place for my children’. However, some were more cynical:
‘allegedly’ ‘I’d like to think it’s correct’ or thought it was too complex
/sciencey: ‘carbon emissions is just exhaust fumes’ ‘science platform’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
53
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Specific Messages – most popular
• We showed respondents a further 9 specific ideas and asked for their
response. The most popular was 4 followed by 9 and 2
• No. 4
‘ENERGY SAVING TRUST. PHONE 0800512012 FOR
FREE AND IMPARTIAL ADVICE ON ENERGY SAVING
GRANTS AND OFFERS’.
Information and help were seen as vital: ‘great’ ‘we need more information’
‘that would overcome the minefield’ ‘that would be good’ and this idea
received the most votes. Most had never heard of them. One person mentioned
a bad experience: ‘I phoned them up and they were useless’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
56
LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Specific Messages – most popular cont.
• No. 9 ‘Green Deal: the Government will pay to have your house fully
insulated – you pay them back from the savings in your energy bills’.
The principle sounded appealing, addressing the problem of up front funding
of investments ‘I’m quite interested to know how it would work’ and several
voted for this as their favourite idea. However, there were suspicions:
‘nightmare to administrate’ ‘they need to be looked at with great caution,
these schemes’ ‘you’ll have to use Govt-approved operatives’
• No. 2 ‘Did you know that turning your thermostat down by 1 degree
you will shave 10% off your fuel bill?’ Not much more than a tip, but
easy and common sense: ‘a widely promoted tip’ ‘that’s advertised quite a
lot on the television’ ‘it’s a tip’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
57
THE ANSWER FOR LANDLORDS:
Key Triggers
1. Money
Tenant
loyalty = £
Help them with
the cost of
improvements
2. Help
Provide them
with savings in
their fuel bills
Single source
of advice and
information
Make it easy
– take away
the hassle
3. Plymouth
Pride
Plus Nudging…
Make it feel good
business practice
Make it clear
that everyone’s
doing it
Money is still key. But they need some help. And local
pride can be a motivator.
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
MAIN FINDINGS:
Carbon Reduction – SMEs
61
SME SAMPLE
•
Our SME sample covered a range of sectors, focussing on those
highlighted in the scoping conversations, including:
– retail, training, consultancy, professions, design, environmental
•
Size of businesses ranged…
– from around 100 staff with several office locations
– down to micro-businesses with just a few staff/affiliates
•
Almost all were tenants:
– only one owned most of their buildings
– and a couple worked from home
•
Between a quarter and a third of them were light greens / believers in
global warming
–
the rest were across the spectrum of sceptical and not bothered
Our SMEs were exceptionally busy, and we very much appreciate their help
with this study
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
SME CONTEXT:
Main Pre-occupations
Busy:
• Many SMEs have too
much to do –
managing a business
and doing the
business – and feel a
great deal of pressure
• Some have downstaffed leaving the
owner doing
‘everything’ day and
night
• ‘Far too much else to
worry about’
Admin/Red Tape:
• Systems need to be
efficient and easy –
they don’t all have
admin staff to bear
the burden
• But they can
embrace new
systems if they help
their business
Recession:
• Some are in
better shape
than others, but
many feel
pressured by
the economic
situation
• Some seem on
the edge of
collapse
Money:
• Many are preoccupied with
money, trying to
maintain the
income against the
competition…
• Whilst at the same
time coping with
significant cost
increases
Generally passionate about their business and determined to succeed
63
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Spontaneous: “What encourages you to be more energy efficient?”
•
•
The clear majority of this sample thought that money and saving on fuel
bills was the big motivator. Even most of those who were more ‘green’
admitted that saving money was likely to be the driver: ‘Money’ …‘Yes…have
you seen the price of fuel?’ ‘it comes down to cost at the end of the day if
I'm completely honest’ ‘I've always been of the opinion we won't make
these changes until it becomes financially viable for us’
A few claimed that environmental consciousness – and doing the right thing
- was a driver; but even they tended also to mention cost saving at the
same time: ‘Saving costs, saving on electric. Just the environmental impact
on the business for the environment as well. I like to be conscious about
how much CO2 we’re causing’
Money and cost is the crucial driver for SMEs
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
67
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Spontaneous: “What stops you from being more energy efficient?”
•
And the spontaneous and top-of-mind barrier is also money – the
investment required – and the fact that they didn’t think they could pass the
cost on to their customers at this difficult time: ‘I haven't looked into it but I
perceive there will be a cost involved, at the moment it's tough; if I were to
introduce an increased cost to my customers, but even if I sold it as this is a
more green product I'm not so sure my customers would see that as worth
it’ ‘People like to think they care for the environment but when it comes to
money… they’ll care until it costs and as soon as it costs, I couldn't pass on
the cost’
SMEs are fearful of taking on additional cost at the moment – and
afraid to try and pass it on to their customers
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
68
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
3 main reasons stopping you from making a change?
• We asked them to identify the three main barriers – and this provided
confirmation:
1. Cost: ‘perceived increase in cost’
2= Lack of knowledge/help: ‘I wouldn’t know how to’ ‘It's getting
carbon neutral, I wouldn’t know where to start’
2= Scepticism: ‘I'm not sure it would make a difference anyway
because I'm not convinced that it's man’s emissions that's causing any
real problem’
2= Lack of time: (Main barrier?) ‘Having the time and the money
upfront to do it’
• And, in addition, few of these SMEs had ever been pressured to reduce their
carbon emissions by their customers: (Do customers ever put pressure on you
to make a change?) ‘Not at all, no’ ‘I do get asked a lot about Fair Trade and
ethics but nobody has ever asked me about my carbon footprint’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
70
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Triggers - spontaneous
•
•
•
•
•
We then asked ‘what would encourage you to change behaviour?’. Their
answers focussed on financial incentives:
Tax-based incentives: ‘Tax breaks on green products’ ‘Reduce VAT on
certain products would be fantastic. That would work’
Loans: ‘if the Government or Council could give you an interest free
loan…over 6 months or a year…I can pay that back and I'm not having to
worry. Then you're saving money on that energy’
Or other broad financial incentives / grants: ‘Something that would be
easy to do, financial incentives obviously would make a massive difference’
‘Bring back the Government grants. The incentives that were there that they
took away last month’
In addition, there were requests for help and information: ‘The easiest
thing would be to have clearly illustrated ways in which I could save energy’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
71
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Triggers – spontaneous message ideas
•
•
•
•
Before showing the stimulus material, we asked for main message ideas
from our SMEs:
The main thrust focussed on financial rewards and incentives: ‘How
much money they could save…if you spend £5000 on getting the solar
panels done, this will take you this long to get your money back and you'll
save this much a year on carbon’ (Green SME) ‘if they said you'd get tax
advantages or something for using a hybrid car’
A few suggested describing what to do and how: ‘How easy it is to do. I
think people need help showing what can be done, not a broad-brush
making less journeys, that's fairly obvious, but some detailed examples, and
especially for someone like me…’
Plus there were protestations: ‘Do you need to use a car, can you not walk’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
73
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Are there any schemes/incentives you’ve heard of?
•
•
•
•
•
Many SMEs initially said they hadn’t heard of any carbon reduction schemes:
‘no I haven’t’ ‘no, never heard of any’ ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen
anything’ (Anything for SMEs?) ‘No, no’
On prompting, a few SMEs thought they’d heard of EnVision but weren’t sure
what it was: ‘heard of it but I couldn’t tell you what they did’
Only one person had heard of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership
Membership of the Chamber of Commerce and other networking
organisations was widespread, and some had been to events concerning the
environment.
We had isolated mentions for:
–
–
–
–
–
Energy Saving Trust
‘Better Together’ (pledge)
Miller Patterson subsidised insulation scheme
Carbon Trust
Cosy Devon
‘All of them are quite helpful, but I think it does end up being a bit
confusing for the consumer’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
74
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Stimuli
• We showed SMEs 7 ‘Broad Messages’ to encourage reduced carbon
emissions. The most popular and persuasive message by some margin
was:
MAKE YOUR BUSINESS MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT AND CUT YOUR FUEL BILLS!
•
•
•
This was the closest to their desire for a financial message: ‘that’s good’
‘yes, money’ ‘does jump out at me’
The main weakness, mentioned by several, is the lack of detailed
information about how to do this: ‘important, but could say more’ ‘it’s not
telling me what to do about it’ ‘yes, relevant, so yes if I knew how to do
that’
In addition one or two saw it as a message which they’d heard many times
before: ‘old and tired’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
75
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Stimuli
• We also showed SMEs 17 ‘Specific Messages’ to encourage reduced
carbon emissions. Three of them were very well received:
FREE EXPERTISE – AN ENERGY EFFICIENCY
SPECIALIST WORKING WITHIN YOUR BUSINESS,
HELPING TO CUT YOUR ENERGY BILLS AND YOUR
CARBON FOOTPRINT
•
•
They want help to implement changes, they want expertise – and FREE is
good too: ‘clear sound advice from a neutral party would be useful’ ‘I like
that because it’s free’
A few were concerned about time commitment, and ultimate cost: ‘how
long will it take, I’ve got other things to do’ ‘what about the cost of
implementing the advice?’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
79
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Stimuli
• We also showed SMEs 17 ‘Specific Messages’ to encourage reduced
carbon emissions. Three of them were very well received:
GREEN DEAL: THE GOVERNMENT WILL PAY TO MAKE
YOUR BUSINESS FULLY ENERGY EFFICIENT – YOU
PAY THEM BACK FROM THE SAVINGS IN YOUR
ENERGY BILLS
•
•
There was a lot of debate about this. In favour, a great way of getting over
the cost of making changes and some genuine enthusiasm: ‘the best
message I’ve seen so far’ ‘I’d be interested in that’ ‘that would be brilliant’
But big questions about the detail: ‘I don’t like having debts’ ‘I’m not sure
how serious the Government would be about helping a small business like
mine’ ‘it’s a good idea, but I’m very cynical on how that would be
implemented’ ‘has to be simple and easy’ ‘need to see the detail’ ‘is it
actually going to happen?’ ’20 years would be daunting – maybe 5 or 10?’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
80
THE ANSWER FOR SMEs:
Key Triggers
1. Money
Help them with
the cost of
improvements
2. Help
Single source
of advice and
information
Provide them
with savings in
their fuel bills
3. Plymouth
Pride
Plus Nudging…
Make it good for
business
reputation
Weave it into
networking
Make it clear
that everyone’s
doing it
Money is the key priority. But practical help would also be
appreciated
Make it
easy
SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:
Reactions to Branding
• We asked which brand/organisation they would trust to deliver this
message:
• The Chamber of Commerce was most frequently suggested: ‘Chamber
would be the leader’ ‘750 members, mostly SMEs, network events’
‘business orientation’
• Only one or two were less encouraging: ‘old boys network’ ‘no, business
driven, I’m sceptical’
• Some would trust the Government or PCC ‘I’d trust the Government’
‘Council, why not?’, but others wouldn’t: ‘but you’re getting into politics’ ‘I
don’t think PCC would be a good idea’
• The other main candidate was the University, seen as thoughtful but perhaps
too highbrow.
• A couple suggested a team approach: ‘joint, University and Chamber’
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
87
CONCLUSIONS
And Next Steps
88
ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:
Segmental perspectives
Tend to ‘be good’
LIGHT GREEN
SENSIBLY FRUGAL
Sceptical about
Global Warming
CONFUSED/NOT
BOTHERED
BLAMER/
DEPENDENCY
DARK
GREEN
Embrace Global
Warming
MERCENARY
SCEPTICS
Less good
NOTE: we didn’t meet dark greens during this study (although
we have in previous environmental projects)
89
THE ANSWER FOR DOMESTIC RESIDENTS:
Key Triggers
Cosy Devon
financial
incentives
1. Money
saving
Switch it off
2. Plymouth
pride
Save
money on
fuel
3. Advice
Plus Nudging…
Plymouth will
be a better
place to live
Energy
Saving
Trust
Peer pressure – make it
clear that everyone’s
doing it
Carbon reduction and Climate Change issues are becoming a
‘given’. Now they would suggest financial help – and could be
motivated by pride in Plymouth.
THE ANSWER FOR LANDLORDS:
Key Triggers
1. Money
Tenant
loyalty = £
Help them with
the cost of
improvements
Provide them
with savings in
their fuel bills
2. Help
Single source
of advice and
information
Make it easy
– take away
the hassle
3. Plymouth
Pride
Plus Nudging…
Make it feel good
business practice
Make it clear
that everyone’s
doing it
Money is still key. But they need some help. And local
pride can be a motivator.
THE ANSWER FOR SMEs:
Key Triggers
1. Money
Help them with
the cost of
improvements
2. Help
Single source
of advice and
information
Provide them
with savings in
their fuel bills
3. Plymouth
Pride
Plus Nudging…
Make it good for
business
reputation
Weave it into
networking
Make it clear
that everyone’s
doing it
Money is the key priority. But practical help would also be
appreciated
Make it
easy
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
1. Financial Incentive Scheme required
2. Turn CO2 tonnes into £
3. Information phone line and website
4. Work on Local Pride Story
5. Create Blue Flag for CO2
6. Stick: fines and compulsion?
7. Nurture Peer Pressure for all three audiences
8. Crucially: how to convert research findings into action:
TMW implementation support includes:
1. Helping with senior management buy-in
2. Management workshops, coaching, mentoring and co-creation
3. Prioritise target audiences
4. Establish and mentor Innovation Teams
5. Align internal strategy with external perceptions/needs
Home-owners
Landlords
SMEs
93
HISTORIC BENCHMARKS
Environmental Behaviour Change
Why
change?
Enforcement
3. Carbon
Reduction
1. Recycling
2. Dog mess
Save the planet
Cut waste
Risk of disease
Disgusting!
?
Yes: £50 fine
?
Charging in
some locations
How?
Collection from
doorstep
Free equipment
from retailers
?
Peer
pressure?
Very important
– visible
evidence!
Very important
– easily spotted
– especially
among dog
owning
community
?
Home-owners
Landlords
94
SMEs
For More Information Contact
Carolyn Bird (M: 07801 144012) or Simon Strutt (M: 07801 144011)
carolyn.bird@themarketingworks.co.uk
simon.strutt@themarketingworks.co.uk
95