Document Type

Working Paper

Abstract

An effective fight against climate change requires both a “top-down” approach and “bottom-up” changes; that is, adopting sustainable practices at the individual and household levels, which requires knowledge, belief, and willingness to engage in climate action. Extant research has shown a number of challenges in bringing about persistent changes in human behavior. We propose to bring about mindful energy consumption behavior at the household level by using children as the conduit for behavior change. Scalable interventions that create awareness about climate change and its impact through early self-regulation in middle and high schools are a promising and cost-effective opportunity to instill climate-friendly behavior directly in children and indirectly in their household members. There are three clear advantages of this approach: 1) schools provide useful aggregation points for behavioral interventions; 2) children of the house, providing the impetus for behavior change, are likely to have a greater impact than other sources of change; and 3) interventions through schools can be more scalable, thereby achieving a wider reach compared to other methods. Our field study, conducted in a middle school in a big city, has shown promising results, with an average reduction of over 10% in household electricity consumption.

Publication Date

1-3-2025

Publisher

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

Relation

IIMB Working Paper-717

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