Centre for Climate Change Transformations (C3T)

Completed

Not Energy Related
Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Environmental, social and economic impacts)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Politics and International Studies)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Sociology)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences)

Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Policy and regulation)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy)

Dr LE Whitmarsh
Psychology
Cardiff University

Standard

ESRC

01 May 2019

30 April 2024

60 months

£4,903,413

Wales

Economic, Performance & Environment

Dr LE Whitmarsh, Psychology, Cardiff University

Dr D Abi Ghanem, Sch of Science, Engineering & Design, Teesside University
Dr CJ Bergstad, Psychology, University of Gothenburg
Dr SB Capstick, Psychology, Cardiff University
Dr C E Cherry, Psychology, Cardiff University
Dr A Corner, Psychology, Cardiff University
Dr CC Demski, Psychology, Cardiff University
Dr V Gouveia, UNLISTED, Federal University of Paraiba
Professor H Graham, Health Science, University of York
Dr C Hoolohan, Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Manchester
Professor A Jordan, Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
Professor J Lewis, Journalism Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University
Dr I Lorenzoni, Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
Dr S Mander, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester
Professor CE McLachlan, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester
Dr N C Nash, Psychology, Cardiff University
Professor Pidgeon, Psychology, Cardiff University
Professor W Poortinga, Architecture, Cardiff University
Dr K Steentjes, Psychology, Cardiff University
Professor O Tregaskis, Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia
Professor D P Van Vuuren, Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University
Dr B Wang, School of International Studies, Peking University
Dr C Wilson, Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
Dr F R Wood, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester

Project Contact, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Project Contact, Cardiff Council
Project Contact, House of Commons
Project Contact, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN), Switzerland
Project Contact, Welsh Assembly Government
Project Contact, Wates Construction
Project Contact, Anglian Water
Project Contact, Surple
Project Contact, The Scottish Government

Emissions reductions at the scale and pace required by the Paris Agreement will not be achieved without profound individual, cultural, political, and corporate transformations. Our ambition is to become the global hub for understanding these transformations, addressing the fundamental question of how we can live differently and better to meet the need for systemic, deep and rapid emission reductions. Thus, the Centre's aim is to achieve a step change in our understanding of how to transform lifestyles and systems of governance for a sustainable, low-carbon future.Our overall objectives are:1. To develop theoretically-informed, interdisciplinary research on how to transform behaviour, organisations, and systems of governance in order to achieve a low-carbon transformation for the UK, and understand the implications of this change for sustainability in both UK and international contexts2. To deepen and extend our existing academic and stakeholder partnerships in the UK and internationally, including working with the Network Plus to co-produce socially and scientifically robust research and impact3. To draw on these partnerships to identify and trial practical solutions that embed transformation in the private, public, and third sectors, and across individual behaviours and community practices4. To build new capacity within academia, stakeholder organisations, and wider society to understand and actively engage with low-carbon transformation in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)Specific objectives to be addressed within the four research Themes are:1. To develop and apply deliberative visioning methods to identify societal values and trade-offs associated with low-carbon transformations aligned with SDGs within the UK and in other developed and rapidly developing countries (Sweden, China, Brazil)2. To generate and evaluate a set of narratives and quantitative transformation pathways, which are aligned to different values and co-benefits, for four key areas which to date have proved challenging for reducing emissions (consumption, diet, mobility, thermal comfort)3. To assess the emissions implications of these pathways and evaluate associated co-benefits or negative impacts4. To understand how public perceptions and media discourses of climate change are shifting in response to triggers including climatic, scientific and socio-political events, historically and over the lifetime of C3T5. To learn from past and present examples of change across scales and contexts in order to understand the drivers of and barriers to low-carbon transformation, particularly focussing on the four challenging areas and potential co-benefits6. To understand how disruptive change impacts on lifestyles and organisations in respect of the challenging areas, and whether interventions are more effective when targeted to disruptive (vs. more stable) times7. To work with individuals, communities, organisations, and policy-makers to design, trial, anddocument transformative interventions for low-carbon lifestyles and institutions, particularly focussing on the challenging areas and potential co-benefits8. To apply and embed practical solutions for mitigating climate change across a range of decision-making sites (including households, communities, organisations, governments) to ensure sustainable and impactful legacy of C3T's work9. To develop more effective approaches to public and stakeholder engagement with climate change, through testing novel communication approaches and engaging outputs (e.g., visualisation tool)10. To benchmark C3T's carbon footprint, driving forward best practice in the sustainable management of a distributed research Centre and reflecting on the role of social science in societal transformation11. To synthesise Centre insights, enabling a step-change in the social science of climate change and its application in a range of decision contexts

The Centre for Climate Change Transformations (C3T) will be a global hub for understanding the profound changes required to address climate change. At its core, is a fundamental question of enormous social significance: how can we as a society live differently - and better - in ways that meet the urgent need for rapid and far-reaching emission reductions?While there is now strong international momentum on action to tackle climate change, it is clear that critical targets (such as keeping global temperature rise to well within 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels) will be missed without fundamental transformations across all parts of society. C3T's aim is to advance society's understanding of how to transform lifestyles, organisations and social structures in order to achieve a low-carbon future, which is genuinely sustainable over the long-term.Our Centre will focus on people as agents of transformation in four challenging areas of everyday life that impact directly on climate change but have proven stubbornly resistant to change: consumption of goods and physical products, food and diet, travel, and heating/cooling. We will work across multiple scales (individual, community, organisational, national and global) to identify and experiment with various routes to achieving lasting change in these challenging areas. In particular, we will test how far focussing on 'co-benefits' will accelerate the pace of change. Co-benefits are outcomes of value to individuals and society, over and above the benefits from reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These may include improved health and wellbeing, reduced waste, better air quality, greater social equality, security, and affordability, as well as increased ability to adapt and respond to future climate change. For example, low-carbon travel choices (such as cycling and car sharing) may bring health, social and financial benefits that are important for motivating behaviour and policy change. Likewise, aligning environmental and social with economic objectives is vital for behaviour and organisational change within businesses.Our Research Themes recognise that transformative change requires: inspiring yet workable visions of the future (Theme 1); learning lessons from past and current societal shifts (Theme 2); experimenting with different models of social change (Theme 3); together with deep and sustained engagement with communities, business and governments, and a research culture that reflects our aims and promotes action (Theme 4).Our Centre integrates academic knowledge from disciplines across the social and physical sciences with practical insights to generate widespread impact. Our team includes world-leading researchers with expertise in climate change behaviour, choices and governance. We will use a range of theories and research methods to fill key gaps in our understanding of transformation at different spatial and social scales, and show how to target interventions to impactful actions, groups and moments in time.We will partner with practitioners (e.g., Climate Outreach, Greener-UK, China Centre for Climate Change Communication), policy-makers (e.g., Welsh Government) and companies (e.g., Anglian Water) to develop and test new ways of engaging with the public, governments and businesses in the UK and internationally. We will enhance citizens', organisations' and societal leaders' capacity to tackle climate change through various mechanisms, including secondments, citizens' panels, small-scale project funding, seminars, training, workshops, papers, blog posts and an interactive website. We will also experiment with transformations within academia itself, by trialling sustainable working practices (e.g., online workshops), being 'reflexive' (studying our own behaviour and its impacts on others), and making our outputs and data publically available.

10/07/19