Experts (o.a. ons collega Linda Steg) zeggen in een rapport van @topsectorenergie.bsky.social dat geopolitieke risico’s maken de #energiesector een cruciaal onderdeel van nationale veiligheid. Daarom moet #Nederland de #energietransitie versnellen. topsectorenergie.nl/nl/kennisban...
@rug.nl
Crisismaatregelen moeten de stem van de burgers niet negeren. Een noodwet die burgers buitensluit ondermijnt de publieke participatie, waardoor acceptatie afneemt: epgroningen.nl/nl/climate-a...
@d66.nl @vvdonline.bsky.social @robjetten.bsky.social
Tapping into the potential of behaviour and embedding public participation into system-wide changes are vital tools to make the sustainable transition a reality.
epgroningen.nl/climate-acti...
Overall, the coalition accord contains some promising proposals to achieve a just transition, but also misses the opportunity to explicitly include the role of behavior change. The potential of both technical solutions and behavior change depends heavily on public acceptability.
Among other topics, the government shared their vision on the future of:
⚡Grids: energy and heat
🏠 Support for tenants to make their homes more sustainable
🟢 Circular economy
✈️ Air travel
🚆 Public transport and shared mobility
💧 (Green) hydrogen
☢️ Nuclear energy
💨 Carbon storage and sequestration
We went through the coalition agreement’s action points for a range of #environmental issues, and analysed them through the lens of environmental psychology insights that the government would do well to consult in order to increase their odds of success.
The minority governing coalition under PM @robjetten.bsky.social was sworn in late February. Earlier that month, the parties released a coalition agreement with extensive plans for addressing the climate crisis. How big of a role does behavior change play in making those plans a reality?
What aspects of the energy transition will the new Dutch government prioritise? We analysed the coalition accord from @d66.nl @vvdonline.bsky.social and CDA to see how environmental psychology can set up the coalition’s plans for greater acceptability and success:
epgroningen.nl/climate-acti...
Our dependency on fossil fuels makes us vulnerable. Wars across the world are pushing up prices for households in the UK.
Why keep waiting for the next crisis? We need to transition to clean power as fast as we can to protect people and our economy.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
bsky.app/profile/epgr...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here is the full paper in @nature.com Climate Change by E. Keith Smith and #capable co-authors @zanmlakar.bsky.social, @thijsbouman.bsky.social et. al.
@rug.nl @rug-gmw.bsky.social
"If even a smaller portion of this group can be won over, we can find majorities for a range of con-create climate policies in Europe," says lead author E. Keith Smith.
@rug-gmw.bsky.social @rug.nl
osf.io/preprints/os...
The study also shows that the population would prefer to see revenue generated from climate funds, like the EU Emissions Trading System, invested in #adaptation projects, like investments in green technologies or low-emission transport services, and compensation measures for individual households
This is particularly the case for the conditional middle: expected costs and benefits are at the forefront of what drives their policy preferences, overriding party affiliation, #climate attitudes, and socio-demographic factors such as income, place of residence or level of education.
The most decisive factors determining whether the conditional middle group will support a policy is their personal cost-benefit calculations. Across #Europe, people prefer policies that make it easier for people and businesses to make pro-climate changes over more visible financial impacts.
The conditional middle, who are much more flexible, form their opinion based on the individual #climate policy itself, and do not have a predetermined disposition for or against it. The study focused on this critical group to understand what shapes their climate policy preferences & voting behaviour
The study aimed to gauge the opinions and attitudes of the population and accurately capture the fundamental stance of participants towards climate policy.
Based on the responses, the researchers developed four profiles:
supporters (36%)
neutrals (10%)
opponents (21%)
conditional middle (33%)
Researchers in the #Capable EU research project (including our colleagues Žan Mlakar, Thijs Bouman and Goda Perlaviciute) conducted a large-scale survey in 13 EU countries to find out which measures are more and less politically acceptable, and why.
Current climate measures are unlikely to meet the #Paris Climate Agreement targets, and whether further political measures can move closer to the goal of limiting #globalwarming to 1.5 degrees and combating climate change depends heavily on public opinion and political support.
New research out today by the Capable research project (including @zanmlakar.bsky.social and @thijsbouman.bsky.social) finds that the success of climate policy is often not determined by the loudest voices, but rather by a large group in between: the "conditional middle"
Job ad🌱: PhD position on climate change and cooperation in rural Asia, with Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk, Vigyan Ratnoo (Utrecht University) & Nina Hansen (University of Groningen) in an interdisciplinary project. Deadline: April 1, 2026. socion-program.org/vacancy/phd-...
We're looking forward to meeting potential future EP master's students today at the University College Groningen Alumni & Career Day! Several of our current and former master's students will be at the Master's Market to answer your questions about environmental psychology
www.rug.nl/ucg/events/e...
After four years, Lorenzo Squintani is stepping down as director of the Wubbo Ockels School for Energy & Climate 🌱
During the WOS Day on 26 March, he will officially bid farewell under the motto 'stronger together through challenges'. Read more 👇
www.rug.nl/wubbo-ockels...
And which mix of values we have - biospheric (cares about the environment), altruistic (cares about others), hedonic (cares about pleasure) and egoistic (care about status) - influence which forms of environmental harm we care about (i.e. busy road by our kid's school)
www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10...
Thanks for the great conversation with @lwhitmarsh.bsky.social! Our colleague Linda Steg (also an IPCC author) found that psychological distance is lower than we think: most people actually perceive #climatechange as occurring now and close by.
Our colleagues @gpalomovelez.bsky.social, Linda Steg & Goda Perlaviciute will present their work on fairness & trust perceptions of #hydrogen import policies during a (hybrid) workshop on 30 April hosted by the University of Portsmouth! Interested? Sign up here:
forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
What's the behavioral & social sciences research master at @rug-gmw.bsky.social really like? Next week is the master's open day at @rug.nl so we asked Wencke, one of our current ReMa students, to share her top 3 tips for prospective students:
youtube.com/shorts/kfdZS...
What motivates us to actually act on #climatechange? Prof. Linda Steg (@rug-gmw.bsky.social) spoke about people's intrinsic motivation to act pro-environmentally - and the context needed to facilitate action - during a seminar by @worldwildlife.org and the American Psychological Association:
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼-𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻s/𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀? At the @d-b-stiftung.bsky.social Ladenburger Roundtable, Linda Steg & Brian Wagner were among the 17 researchers/practitioners who came together to talk pro-environmental behavior at work. @clarakuehner.bsky.social
Most people are concerned about the climate crisis, but all too often that doesn’t translate into action. This week we dig into the psychology behind ‘catastrophe apathy’ to understand the gap. With Lorraine Whitmarsh of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations.
bit.ly/4jy5uiH
