EcoNudge at the European Sustainable Energy Week 2023
During the summer of 2023, EcoNudge had the opportunity to participate in The European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) – the largest annual event dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe. With its central theme, ‘Accelerating the Clean Energy Transition – Towards Lower Bills and Greater Skills’, this hybrid conference drew over 2000 onsite and 10,000 online participants across three days. EcoNudge attended the third day, when discussions and plenaries revolved around the theme ‘Stepping into a Carbon-Free Future’.
At EcoNudge, we recognize the pivotal role of behavioral science and behavior change in the clean energy transition, but it was hard to say whether this would be recognized at a conference with a heavy focus on policy and energy technology. It was a pleasant surprise to observe that the role of behavioral interventions in addressing the sustainable energy transition was mentioned multiple times at EUSEW and some speakers even highlighted it as one of the most important things to work on.
While this trajectory shows promise, the urgency for change was also strongly emphasized. “I don’t like these ‘Net Zero by 2050’ statements… We need a net-zero carbon energy system by 2035. We need to go big and fast, or the world will go bust,” asserted the keynote speaker, Claude Turmer, the energy minister of Luxembourg. One of the key themes that emerged as a solution was breaking down barriers to adopting renewables by focusing on increasing public acceptance. Behavioral interventions could really help here; going big and fast necessitates addressing people’s behaviors. For instance, employing behaviorally informed public communication campaigns and interventions that present the facts about the cost-effectiveness of renewables could further sway public opinion in favor of renewables. Maria Laura Trifiletti from Zabala Innovation Consulting aptly concluded that the social and behavioral aspects in the net-zero transition are sometimes overlooked, and we cannot afford to continue doing so. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, where the social and behavioral aspects are emphasized to a greater extent than they currently are, is essential.
The significance of behavioral aspects in this space was further highlighted during the final and concluding session of the conference. The first-ever cohort of the EUSEW Young Energy Ambassadors, consisting of 30 members aged 20-35, who were selected based on their contributions to climate change mitigation efforts, took the stage. They shared their key strategies that are most crucial in the sustainable energy transition, with behavior change being emphasized as the first and foremost. Regarding practical solutions, incentivizing green choices and actively involving and rewarding people were put forward as effective methods for addressing the behavioral side. Similarly, the concluding speaker, Diederik Samson – the Dutch environmentalist and former politician – underscored the importance of behavioral aspects. He emphasized the need for candid conversations about sufficiency and the challenges of persuading people to consume less. “How does the individual deal with this type of behavior change? How do we ensure that local communities change?” were some of the questions he raised. According to Samson, there is an strong need to develop new policies that not only accelerate the behavioral side, but do so swiftly. Some new policies in this direction are currently in progress, but what is crucial is ensuring that this response occurs rapidly enough.
At EcoNudge, our focus is on providing behavioral solutions specifically tailored for the sustainability sector. We understand the importance, necessity, and potential of behavioral science in supporting the attainment of the net-zero targets that countries around the world should be striving for. It’s easy for us to recognize this as professionals in the field. But European Sustainable Energy Week 2023 also underscored the critical role of behaviour change initiatives in propelling the clean energy transition forward. Behavioural science is not merely a supplementary component, but a driving force in the transition towards a future powered by sustainable energy. It was great to see this acknowledged on such a big, interdisciplinary platform. It feels great to be working on just that.