1.5 degree lifestyle project kicks off

Fighting climate change with changing lifestyles – researchers and practitioners from seven European countries will explore possibilities of transforming lifestyles to support climate goals.

The EU 1.5° Lifestyles project aims at fostering the mainstreaming of lifestyles in accordance with the 1.5° aspirational climate target, thus catalyzing a much-needed transformation. It will address one of the biggest challenges of our time, climate change, and contribute to achieving global and EU climate goals as sought in the Paris Agreement and the EU Green Deal. Tackling this challenge is urgently necessary, not only from an environmental, but also from a justice perspective, as the contributions and vulnerabilities to climate change are distributed highly unevenly both across and within societies and generations.

Per capita CO2 consumption emissions by four global income groups in 2015 (Source: UNEP Emissions Gap Report, 2020)

Creating scientific evidence on how lifestyle choices impact carbon footprint

The project involves researchers from Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, and is funded through the financial support of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme.

adelphi and the project partners will develop guidance for policy makers, intermediary actors and individuals based on scientific evidence on how lifestyle choices affect carbon footprint, and how political, economic and social contexts enable or constrain sustainable lifestyles options.

IPCC underpins our approach

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes in its Special Report on Global Warming that addressing climate change will require demand-side actions and lifestyle changes. Previous attempts to realise such lifestyle changes have been hampered by three main factors:

• Limited quantitative data on how lifestyle changes contribute to climate change mitigation. 
• Little evidence of public acceptance of drastic changes. 
• Policy shortcomings in the past; i.e. previous attempts have usually promoted changes in individual behaviour without addressing structural constraints or drivers of unsustainable lifestyles.

EU 1.5° Lifestyles addresses all three of the above factors by connecting analyses of lifestyle perspectives at the household level with inquiries into relevant political and socio-economic structures at various levels of governance. The uniqueness of the project approach is that it recognises the importance of political acceptance for change, demonstrates potential contributions of individuals and households, and clearly articulates where limited agency by households needs intervention from policy and other structural changes – such as in welfare and provisioning systems. 

Citizen thinking labs help realistic transition

In pursuit of the four-year project's goals, adelphi will develop practical recommendations, which can be integrated into everyday life as well as into EU and national policies. It will contribute to establishing an overview on potentials for and barriers to change at the household level, including options for transitioning to 1.5° lifestyles as well as associated potential risks and opportunities. To co-produce outputs and involve target groups, numerous citizen thinking labs will be organized by adelphi in the five case study countries (Sweden, Latvia, Hungary, Spain and Germany). In addition, adelphi will help to communicate and disseminate project outcomes to a German and international audience including decision makers.

For more information visit the project’s preliminary site here.

Contact person: domroeseadelphi [dot] de (Lena Domröse)