1 June 2011 Research Debrief PLYMOUTH CITY COUNCIL: Carbon Reduction Study

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June 2011

Research Debrief

PLYMOUTH CITY COUNCIL: Carbon Reduction Study

CONTENTS

Strategic Overview

Research Objectives

Methodology Summary

Main Findings

– Attitudes to Carbon Reduction Issues

– Domestic Residents

– Landlords

– SMEs

Next Steps: Action Plan

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STRATEGIC OVERVIEW

• Plymouth City Council is one of 9 local authorities that have been selected as national pilots, looking at the best ways of reducing carbon dioxide emissions

• Ambitious targets have been set, to reduce CO2:

− by 20% by 2013

− by 60% by 2020

− by 80% by 2050

• The action plan is focussed on businesses and industry, but will also encompass the general public, and social marketing campaigns will be conducted aimed at changing behaviours which produce carbon dioxide

• This research project will help to explore attitudes to these issues, in order to identify the types of messages and actions that will be most effective

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STRATEGIC OVERVIEW

Before the fieldwork began a series of meetings and discussions revealed the following priorities:

•Owners of domestic properties – owner-occupiers and landlords – can have a considerable impact on their carbon footprints by attending to three highly cost-effective enhancements: 1. Insulating cavity walls 2. Insulating the loft thoroughly 3. Replacing old boilers

•Transport creates a substantial amount of preventable carbon dioxide which can be addressed by local actions

•Central Government/EU policy has focussed on larger business users of energy which largely excludes SMEs. Hence, the importance of encompassing smaller companies in this national pilot, and understanding their likely triggers within the scope of our study

•With thanks to PCC staff and to Exeter University for their input and advice during the scoping stage. These insights helped to focus this study on audiences who can make a real difference

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

- How do people feel about climate change? To what extent do they accept their own contribution to the problem, do they have a sense of ownership for the issue?

- Do they understand the likely impact of carbon dioxide emissions, and to what

extent do they embrace the need for them to reduce their own carbon footprint?

- What are the barriers to making changes in behaviour?

- What kinds of triggers are likely to be most effective?

- What awareness is there for Government schemes to encourage behaviour change?- And how do they feel about these schemes – have they taken part? If not, why not?

Which are most likely to encourage their participation?

- Which audiences are most likely to engage, and which are least likely to?

Overall Research Objective: to understand attitudes to carbon reduction, and to identify the best ways of changing behaviours

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METHODOLOGY SUMMARY

SCOPING MEETING

DISCUSSION GUIDE/STIMULI CO-CREATION

SME DEPTHS/MINI-GROUPS

FOCUS GROUPS – OWNERS & LANDLORDS

ANALYSIS

DEBRIEF

POST-DEBRIEF IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT

QUANTIFICATION

• 2 Focus Groups with home-owners– Split by household income– Recruited from postal codes with a high likelihood of cavity walls

• 2 Focus Groups with landlords– across a range of numbers of rental properties (from 1 to 10+)

• 2 Mini-groups and 7 depth interviews with SMEs– Aiming for a range of industry sectors and size– 3 depth interviews conducted face to face and 4 on the phone– Fieldwork all took place during May 2011– All fieldwork and analysis conducted by Carolyn Bird and Simon Strutt

Fieldwork spread across 3 separate samplesWe would encourage more extensive fieldwork amongst key target groups

And quantification of attitudes remains strongly recommended

METHODOLOGY

Home-owners Landlords SMEs

MAIN FINDINGS:

Attitudes to Carbon Reduction Issues

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There were a huge range of perspectives:•Some were convinced about Global Warming and the role of the human race in causing it: ‘I think the human race has contributed to global warming, definitely contributed’ ‘The evidence is getting to the point now that it's hard to say there isn't a correlation between human activities and the statistics coming out with regard to climate change’ •Though for some, doubts remained: ‘I'm a believer. I'm not sure it can be proven. But recent changes have been so drastic, and given what we do it makes sense that we’re at least exacerbating what's happening, even if we’re not the main cause of it’ ‘I think we’re having an effect on the climate, nobody really knows for certain’ •Extreme Weather Events (real or perceived) seemed for many to be the most convincing evidence for Global Warming: ‘Over here I think it's happening more often, Boscastle, but since then we've had Tewkesbury and lots of other things…. Bangladesh…it is becoming more and more a case’ ‘so many weird freak weather conditions’

ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:Different perspectives – different segments

Home-owners Landlords SMEs11

• ‘Tend to be Good’: Some followed the established advice on climate change – but largely because they were ‘pretty good anyway’: ‘It's just a consciousness of doing your bit, not just reducing your bills but trying to keep the planet safe’ ‘I don’t like waste anyway so I try not to waste’ ‘I'm a little bit of a goody, goody I guess, it's mainly altruistic and just feeling I should be doing the decent thing’

• This segment often talked about avoiding waste as being part of a good upbringing and sound education: ‘I am very much trying to be environmentally friendly, I think it's also the way I've been brought up as well, it's watching the pennies aspect. My mum was always like that’ ‘There's no embarrassment in Plymouth about living frugally’ ‘I've always encouraged my children to be frugal really. It's not that we can't afford it it's just stupid to be wasteful isn't it’ ‘It's education I think’



But we had shades of scepticism from a large minority across the sample: •Either thinking that we may not be the cause of any climatic variations ‘what we’re doing (is) a drop in the ocean’ and several mentioned volcanoes as putting the human contribution in the shade: ‘I'm still not convinced it's mankind that’s actually making that much, I'm sure I've read somewhere that volcanoes give out 8 times as much carbon as we ever produce’ ‘Some of it's a load of bull. A volcano recently kicked out something like 10 years worth of what we’re doing in the cars, so come on it's so small’•In particular, the idea that this is just another of the earth’s natural climatic cycles was commonly mentioned: ‘the earth has gone through ice ages and hot periods through its history before we were ever here’ ‘The earth over the generations, centuries has gone like that anyway, cycle, it has been a whole lot warmer and it has been a lot colder. So I don't think it is a worry, I don't think you can make much difference’

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• Or they sensed some kind of conspiracy: ‘There's a lot of people with self-serving motives’ ‘I think Governments, successive Governments are over obsessive about the whole issue, it’s a damned good reason to tax’ ‘I think a lot of it is just a con’ ‘I think sometimes there's a lot of people jump on the bandwagon, especially politicians, green issues right I’ll get votes for that if I say I'm going to do something’

• Or that there isn’t much that they can do about it – largely focussing on the UK impact being insignificant: ‘this country seems to do it a lot, America and China don’t care…if everyone else is not bothering you're on a hiding to nothing’ ‘it’s like a drop in the ocean, you could be slogging yourself to death and everybody else is not bothering’ ‘if everybody was doing the same’ ‘You look at China all that pollution, are they doing anything, look at America look at all the big cars there’

• Or they blamed others – public transport, retailers etc: ‘They ask you to do these things but they don’t provide the means for you to do it’ ‘The shops don’t make it easy either with the packaging’ ‘the Government needs to step in and make sure that the big stores don’t have so much packaging’



• Confusion (urban myths?) was widespread, and many were happy to admit it: ‘I'm sure I read the production of solar panels is way worse carbon footprint than coal anyway. I think the chemicals used poison the environment’ ‘you hear so many different conflicting sides’ ‘I often think about all these electric cars and bicycles, you're plugging in a 3 pin plug and to get that electricity to that you’ve either got a diesel generator pumping away somewhere with emissions’

• And others were just not bothered: ‘A lot of people say what about the next generation, well I just think 3 or 4 generations I'm not going to be here, so. I mean that sounds horrible but I really don’t care’ ‘I suppose there is evidence to support it but then if you worry about it all the time you wouldn’t actually be able to live would you’ ‘it doesn’t really worry me’ ‘I’m going to confess to being totally bloody disinterested’ (does climate change affect your business decisions?) ‘No it doesn’t, not really’

Following a blitz of media coverage over many years, views seem fairly well established



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Tend to ‘be good’

Less good

Embrace Global Warming

Sceptical aboutGlobal Warming

CONFUSED/NOT BOTHERED

DARK GREEN

LIGHT GREEN

MERCENARY SCEPTICS

NOTE: we didn’t meet dark greens during this study (although we have in previous environmental projects)

ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:Segmental perspectives

BLAMER/ DEPENDENCY

SENSIBLY FRUGAL


Not bothered Part of general good behaviour

Selfish Doing their bit

Someone else needs to pay Prepared to make an effort

A diversity of views…but everyone is concerned about the impact on their finances

– fuel bills and the cost of making changes

Scepticism Belief

Confused Understand

What about the Chinese! Lead from the front

Money Money

ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:


• When asked how Plymouth as a City impacts on carbon issues, traffic was cited as a major issue, with the large increase in the number of cars over recent years ‘the amount of cars coming in, yes, the amount of people coming into Plymouth, it’s gone really big in the last 15 years’ ‘fumes’

• Some thought that Plymouth populations and those in the surrounding areas were better behaved than most: ‘This part of the country, particular Devon and Cornwall I think we are quite on the ball with regard to things like this…we want to keep it beautiful’ ‘Everybody I know has an allotment or grows vegetables, everybody I know shops in charity shops’ ‘I know quite a few people who make their own clothes, just a load of hippies really’

• But perhaps less well advanced on insulation etc: ‘so many of the properties are old and not well insulated’

ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:The Plymouth perspective

Plymouth is thought to be a frugal place - for reasons of history and lack of money


• Only two in our sample – across all three cells – had ever tried to do this: ‘It's just a phrase to me’

• Many were confused or unsure of how to do it: ‘When you say carbon footprint, where are you walking, what footprint are you talking about?’ ‘I haven't, no. I wouldn’t have a clue’ ‘how do you measure it?’ ‘You're buying bananas then it's how much energy it's taken to grow it, packaging, send it from the Dominican Republic and then you drive in your car to the supermarket…how can you quantify that?’

• Two SMEs claimed to have measured their carbon footprint: ‘I did a couple of years ago before I actually turned over to low energy light bulbs. I think I was in about the 2¼ to 2½ tonnes per year. I've reduced (mileage) down to less than 10 (‘000 miles per year) now. I think the light bulbs are a token gesture really. It does have an effect but I think the…one thing that really stood out was…insulation’ ‘I've tried on the website before, it said if I reduced the electricity usage by 10% I would save something like 320 tonnes of carbon a year’

ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:“Have you ever measured your carbon footprint?”

Very little knowledge about how to do this – and some unfamiliar with the expression


THE MARKETING WORKS

BEHAVIOUR CHANGE MODEL

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1. Background Context •How does the behaviour fit into their attitudes to life? Their aims, aspirations and pressures

2. Understanding Current Behaviour:

•How do they behave currently and why?

3. Barriers to Change:•Why don’t they change their behaviour – what stops them? What gets in the way?

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4½ STEPS TO CHANGE BEHAVIOUROur programme for identifying the levers of change

4. Triggers:•What might trigger a change?


Behavioural Economics says…

•Sometimes, our actions are not driven by rational motivations

And we may struggle to explain them…

•What we say may not be what we do

Motivations may not be what they appear:

•We need to listen out for peer pressure, emotional triggers, the

unconscious and intuition

4½ STEPS TO CHANGE BEHAVIOURThe extra half step…

Nudges:•This can lead us to identify less rational nudges which can create

behaviour which catches on across tribes


1. Recycling

Why change?

Save the planetCut waste

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HISTORIC BENCHMARKSEnvironmental Behaviour Change

2. Dog mess

3. Carbon Reduction

How?

Peer pressure?

Enforcement

Risk of diseaseDisgusting!

Charging in some locations

Yes: £50 fine

Collection from doorstep

Free equipment from retailers

Very important – visible evidence!

Very important – easily spotted –

especially among dog

owning community

?

?

?

?


MAIN FINDINGS:

Carbon Reduction – Domestic Residents

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• Most had insulated their properties to a greater or lesser extent, including loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, new windows and double glazing.

• The motivation varied, with several taking advantage of Government schemes and grants either directly or through Companies who had grants. ‘Because I was on benefits at the time it was a Government incentive’

• For some, it was done as part of an ongoing scheme to upgrade and improve their homes ‘he put insulation in behind the walls, but that’s only in the rooms we’ve decorated’ ‘it just needed to be done, it was mixture of everything, a house should have insulation now shouldn’t it?’

• For others the main motivation was warmth and comfort ‘purely because the place was freezing cold’

• There was mixed views on the efficacy of the improvements with some saying that their heating bills had reduced ‘ £27 a month electric I’m paying at the moment, there’s 4 of us in the property. It used to be £27 a month but it was only just me in the house’ whilst others reported little change. ‘They re-did the loft insulation and also the cavity wall insulation, I don’t think it’s made much difference, any of it. My neighbour says the same, not affected the fuel bill’ ‘I don’t think the insulation makes any difference’

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DOMESTIC RESIDENTS CONTEXT:Existing Insulation


• The need for more information, education and expert advice was cited. ‘I’d like to insulate the house but I don’t know where to start and no-one seems able to advise me’ ‘I often think about solar heating, I think that’s a subject we could all do with knowing more about’

• And they would need to be convinced that the financial rewards would make the effort worth their while ‘knowing exactly how much it would cost upfront and what the rewards would be and being more specific, we’d be able to make an informed decision’

• With regard to travel; free public transport, better public transport, installing trams and more cycle lanes might help, but the convenience of the car will be difficult to beat. ‘We’re entitled to get free bus passes but we haven’t bothered, we use the car’

Apathy and cynicism are high with this target group

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DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Spontaneous: “What would encourage you to be more energy efficient?”


• We asked them to identify the three main reasons that they might consider changing their behaviour. They struggled to identify any reasons at all. ‘I can’t think of any ways’

• However saving money was the main motivation ‘I might buy a smaller car and that would save me money on petrol’ ‘cost benefits to me and the family’

• Evidence and proof that changing their behaviour would have some impact on climate change was also felt to be important. ‘Before I’m prepared to spend money which I haven’t got, I’d like some concrete proof that the carbon footprint is causing the problem’

• There were several minority views including a vastly improved public transport system; to benefit mankind/our children’s future, and also social pressure, (as with dog fouling and smoking in public places), which could give the impetus needed. ‘We did in fact reduce our cars because we didn’t want to be seen as driving Chelsea tractors’ ‘if I could see everyone else was doing the same, I’d know it was having a more positive effect’

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DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:3 main reasons you might make a change?


• We asked them to identify the three main barriers stopping them from making a change and once again money, education/information and other people doing it too were cited. ‘I am perfectly happy to do it if Jo Bloggs is doing it and Mr Smith and Mr Brown are doing it, but I don’t want to be the crusader who does it’

• There was a sense of wanting to blame others – the authorities, the Government and other people for not pulling their weight. ‘If the dustmen did their work properly, they leave more mess behind them than they take away’ ‘lack of transport facilities, I’d get the bus if there was one’ ‘I don’t think the Government has actually come out clearly and led the way on it’

• As well as a sense of futility that their little bit wouldn’t make any difference ‘there’s nothing I can do about it, I can’t change my carbon footprint to what I would like, you’ve got to be practical’

• And resentment about being told what to do all the time. ‘I don’t drop litter, I don’t waste things, I don’t tip oil down the drains, I don’t do anything, I don’t overfill my bin or anything like this, but all the time you’re being criticised and told'

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DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:3 main reasons stopping you from making a change?

Rational and emotional factors at play here


We asked them to design a poster that describes a scheme that would change the behaviour of people like them, and their ideas included:

– Saving money– Being paid money as an incentive– Explaining what a carbon footprint is– Taking pride– Showing the world coming to an end– Giving a better future to our children– ‘you could show a messy picture of the place or a

really awful place that’s been devastated by something or if you treat it properly you could have

this, you have a rather utopia looking picture’

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DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Design a poster to change behaviour


• We showed Domestic Residents 11 ‘Broad Messages’ to encourage reduced carbon emissions. There was a wide spread of winning ideas but with the most popular and persuasive messages being no. 3 and no. 8

• No.3

‘SAVE MONEY BY SAVING POWER – E.G. DON’T LEAVE LIGHTS AND TV ON WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN THE

ROOM’.

Many agreed with the statement and confirmed that they already do this ‘it’s commonsense’ ‘that’s automatic’. There was debate in one of the groups about whether switching on and off costs more than leaving on ‘if you leave them on they cost less than flicking them on and off’

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DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Stimuli


•No.8

PLYMOUTH WILL BE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IF WE CAN REDUCE OUR CARBON EMISSIONS – HELPING TO MAKE

US ONE OF EUROPE’S FINEST AND MOST VIBRANT WATER FRONT CITIES’.

The initial reaction was positive ‘that appeals to me’ ‘that’s more like it’ ‘if we could get people to reduce their emissions it would look nicer as a matter of course’. They responded positively to the idea that Plymouth could become a better City and a more attractive tourist centre. However, they did want more information about how this could be achieved and the majority were cynical and curious. ‘Is carbon emission visible?’ ‘People in Paris aren’t going to come to Plymouth because they’ve got low carbon emissions, who cares, they want to come for what facilities you produce, what you offer them’

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DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Stimuli


DOMESTIC RESIDENTS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Specific Stimuli ideas – most popular


• We showed respondents a further 9 specific ideas and asked for their response. The most popular was no. 6 followed by numbers 4 and 5

• No. 6

‘COSY DEVON: CAVITY WALL INSULATION FOR £99 AND/OR LOFT INSULATION FOR £99 (IF YOU CURRENTLY

HAVE LESS THAN 100MM OF INSULATION).

This was very well received ‘sounds good to me’ ‘that’s more like it’• No. 4 ‘Energy saving trust. Phone 0800512012 for free and impartial

advice on energy saving grants and offers’. There were a few grumbles about free phone numbers but some had heard of the Energy Saving Trust. ‘I’ve heard of it, I think I have been in touch with them. I think that’s the way I might have got my roof insulation’.

• No. 5 ‘Cosy Devon: Free cavity wall insulation and loft insulation if you’re over 70 (or over 60 with a household income of less than £18,000 per year, or if you’re on benefit). Again this was felt to be very good and there was some recognition of it as an existing scheme ‘they’ve already done that one’

2. Plymouth pride

Plymouth will be a better place to live

Carbon reduction and Climate Change issues are becoming a ‘given’. Now they would suggest financial help – and could be motivated by

pride in Plymouth.

Switch it off

1. Money saving

Cosy Devon financial

incentives

THE ANSWER FOR DOMESTIC RESIDENTS:Key Triggers

Plus Nudging…

3. Advice

Peer pressure – make it clear that everyone’s

doing it

Energy Saving Trust

Save money on

fuel


MAIN FINDINGS:

Carbon Reduction – Landlords

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• As with residents, most had insulated their properties or had plans to do so. And some, especially those with many properties, knew a good deal about it: ‘Yes we've got the standard requirement for loft insulation’ ‘I'm looking into getting one of our flats done at the moment, it doesn’t come up to current specifications, it's changed in the last couple of years’

• The main motivation was to do with cost saving – and many mentioned the recent increases in fuel bills: ‘It's more and more these days down to cost…as the prices started to go up of fuel it is making me think’ ‘It's the cost of heating a property….the flats have all been done in the last 18 months…loft insulation as well they had….the more insulation you’ve got the more efficient it's going to be to live there’

• Some were motivated by what they thought was a legal requirement – but there was little certainty on this issue: ‘EPC, Energy Performance Certificates will have a bearing on people looking for rental properties. You’ve got to have an EPC’ (Have you got EPC?) ‘No’…’We haven't been asked. If the tenant actually asked for it then you'd look into it, but I've never been asked’ …’No I haven't’

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LANDLORD CONTEXT:Existing Insulation


• For some, humidity, damp and condensation can result from increasing insulation – and as tenants come and go they may not take steps to minimise the negative impacts of damp: ‘It's finding that balance between insulating a property and then creating a sealed box where no air actually circulates around it at all’ ‘If we’re talking about insulation keeping places warm I think there's several issues. That's keeping the humidity down and tenants do tend to dry their washing inside’ ‘It's a huge problem. I've banned them now from doing any drying of any washing’

• There were mixed views on the efficacy of insulation. Most felt that insulation did reduce heating bills – but not everyone: ‘we've insulated as much as we can, obviously we have double-glazing as well, we've insulated the roof to more than the minimum required depth. The wind blows through the house so we can insulate as much as we like and I don’t think we’re going to achieve a warm house’

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LANDLORD CONTEXT:Existing Insulation (cont)


• Some were not sure whether they had cavity walls or not: ‘I've no idea’• Some found it rather intimidating – and potentially costly: (would you

consider it?) ‘I think I’ll start with the smaller things first, that sounds like a big job. I've absolutely no idea how you would start filling cavity walls, how do they do that?’

• But others seemed more clued up: ‘I don't know which firm it was, they came around, it was Government grants and they're doing £149 to insulate the cavity. I've got 1 tenant that’s unemployed so that one gets done free’

• Most thought second skin insulation sounded very expensive and a lot of effort: (second skin for £5,000?) ‘£149 it needs to be’ ‘It would be an immense amount of work though wouldn’t it, whether it was outside or inside, it would be a huge amount of work going around all those windows and doorways’

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LANDLORD CONTEXT:Cavity Wall Insulation/Second Skin


• There was some debate about tenant loyalty. Some are fickle, and many landlords resented investing in them: ‘Sometimes a tenant will come in and pay a months rent in advance and then he's gone within a month’

• But other landlords think the investment in insulation will result in greater loyalty – improving financial return and reducing hassle: ‘It purely and simply made sense for everybody. The bills are less, you're going to get more satisfied tenants and it's helping to improve the insulation qualities of the house, make it easier to maintain and let’

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LANDLORD CONTEXT:Existing Insulation (cont)

Landlord motivations can vary – and this impacts on insulation decisions


• Peer pressure was mentioned once or twice: ‘My children changed my behaviour because they do so much of this stuff now at school they come back and question what I'm doing in the home’

• But self-interest was by far the most commonly mentioned motivator: ‘For you to do something that’s good for the environment it has to be good in some other way…a good use of money, or this will make your house warmer, there needs to be some benefit to it’

• And for some, tenant satisfaction has a value: ‘But if you're improving your property it will ultimately benefit you because the turnover of your tenants probably… if you have a satisfied customer’

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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Spontaneous: “What would encourage you to be more energy efficient?”


• Insulation and recycling were the most often mentioned – very widespread behaviours, with insulation increasing comfort and saving money, and recycling being easy to do

• One or two mentioned:– Reducing car use– Composting– Using a water butt– Wearing jumpers (instead of turning the heating up)– Drying clothes on the line rather than using a tumble drier.

• There was also some enthusiasm for the idea of photo-voltaics – though mentioning the cost barrier at the same time: ‘I'd like to have solar panels but they're so expensive…it was about £6500. I'm working it out saying how much money am I going to save, I'm in my 60’s now, it just wasn’t feasible’ ‘I know there was a guy down our way, he put in the solar panels on the basis of a particular (feed in tariff) figure and then they changed it and it wasn’t economic’

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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Spontaneous: “What kinds of things would you consider?”


• We asked them to identify the three main reasons that they might consider changing their behaviour.

• Again, saving money was the main motivation ‘Primarily for me it's going to be cost, it's a constant juggling act at the moment with the cost of food, cost of petrol’ ‘Cost, money because at the end of the day it is a business’

• And convenience can help to nudge them: ‘If you live in a city actually having to travel around in a car is almost an encumbrance…it's the hassle’

• Happy tenants were mentioned by some: ‘Tenant satisfaction it's obviously going to lower their bills, encourage them to look after the property, it's them having a stake, not in the ownership but making it feel like theirs. Fabric of the building, looking after the property’

• For our Greener landlords, environmental issues were included as part of the motivation: ‘Concern, I'm concerned about carbon footprint…if you do all these things you just know you’ve done your bit’ ‘Efficient use of energy. Less waste. Less cost’

• And some felt that ‘living frugally is a Plymouth thing’

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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:3 main reasons you might make a change?


• We asked them to identify the three main barriers stopping them from making a change and once again money was high on the list: ‘The cost of any works that you have done, it will put you off actually having it done straightaway’ (barriers?) ‘Cost of installing the equipment’ ‘Reasons for not doing more – cost without a doubt. Not having enough knowledge, not enough advice’

– And help with finance was sometimes criticised because of the detail: ‘That boiler scheme that came out, it wasn’t out for long enough. They were giving £600, your boiler had to be over a certain age. You had to go through British Gas’ ’Their prices are way up. To change a boiler was about 4 grand, you could get it done for half that price’

• Information - about what to do and what help is available – was also in the top 3 for many ‘Lack of information, confusing information…is this the right one to do or is somebody going to come along in 6 months time and say that wasn’t the right one to do’ ‘You just need a leaflet that tells you what grants are available, what is the standard to which it should be done to in terms of the thickness, any other things you could be doing as a landlord, landlady to make the property more efficient’

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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:3 main reasons stopping you from making a change?


• Hassle: many landlords have busy lives juggling family, work and property management – hence lack of time can be a barrier: ‘inconvenient or impractical’ ‘Time to sort it out, if it takes you hours and hours to work out what you need, you're just not going to do it’ ‘The effort involved, time to research, where you go for the information, just finding someone who is reliable and trustworthy’ ‘if I'm going to do something and it's going to take 6 weeks to do, have I got time to do that’

– And the risk of dodgy suppliers adds to the hassle factor: ‘Going for that reliable and trustworthy workman that isn't going to rip you off. Insulation for lofts has the same kind of tag attached to it that double-glazing has’

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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:3 main reasons stopping you from making a change? (cont)


• We asked for their spontaneous ideas for a poster that describes a scheme/message to change the behaviour of people like them. Their ideas largely reflected perceived triggers and barriers:

• Help with funding: ‘50% off your solar panel installation, buy one get one free. On all houses’

• Green messages: ‘Work with us and improve life…add in a phone number, e-mails. I was thinking of panels, insulation, do the whole lot’ ‘Plymouth City Council is concerned for our planet and your pocket’

• And help with information: ‘exhibition of home insulation and energy packets including solar. Across the top of it have ‘we will pay some for you’ ’ ‘Some sort of seminar or function so people tell you how and what is best to do. Approved companies like the Which magazine where you get the best buy for money’

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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Ideas for a poster to change behaviour


• We showed the landlords 11 ‘Broad Messages’ to encourage reduced carbon emissions (the same messages as residents). The most popular and persuasive messages were to do with saving money, or making Plymouth/the world a better place. The two favourite money saving messages were:

• No.3

‘SAVE MONEY BY SAVING POWER – E.G. DON’T LEAVE LIGHTS AND TV ON WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN THE

ROOM’.

Regarded as sensible, common sense and straightforward: ‘keep it simple’ ‘not trying to blind us with science’ ‘a good reminder’ ‘logically if you put the light off your bill is going to go down’. Some thought it didn’t offer much in the way of new information: ‘an old one’

LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Broad Messages: winning ideas


• No.4

‘INSULATE AND DRAUGHT-PROOF YOUR HOME – YOU’LL BE WARMER AND SAVE POUNDS OFF YOUR

FUEL BILL’.

Regarded as a clear message, and ideal for recessionary times: ‘it’s giving people the money aspect’ ‘in today’s climate that’s what people are interested in’. One or two did point out the need to balance investment against the likely saving: ‘need to weigh up cost vs benefit’

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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Broad Messages: winning ideas cont.


• And the two winning messages to do with making Plymouth/the world a better place were:

• No.8 ‘Plymouth will be a better place to live if we can reduce our carbon emissions – helping to make us one of Europe’s finest and most vibrant water front cities’. They liked the ‘feel’ of this message, and were motivated by some level of pride in Plymouth: ‘nice idea’ ‘quite impressive’ ‘I like the idea they’re comparing us to other European cities, which is a first for Plymouth…instead of being a poor relation’. In one group there was a suggestion that this could lead to an award: ’like the Blue Flag award – a flag award for carbon footprint’

• No.1 ‘Reduce your carbon emissions and make the world a better place for future generations’. One group in particular thought this was the fundamental message, everything else being in support of it: ‘that’s the start’ ‘the bottom line’ ‘the others are just things you can do’ ‘I would like to make the world a better place for my children’. However, some were more cynical: ‘allegedly’ ‘I’d like to think it’s correct’ or thought it was too complex /sciencey: ‘carbon emissions is just exhaust fumes’ ‘science platform’

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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Broad Messages: winning ideas


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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Specific Messages – most popular


• We showed respondents a further 9 specific ideas and asked for their response. The most popular was 4 followed by 9 and 2

• No. 4

‘ENERGY SAVING TRUST. PHONE 0800512012 FOR FREE AND IMPARTIAL ADVICE ON ENERGY SAVING

GRANTS AND OFFERS’.

Information and help were seen as vital: ‘great’ ‘we need more information’ ‘that would overcome the minefield’ ‘that would be good’ and this idea received the most votes. Most had never heard of them. One person mentioned a bad experience: ‘I phoned them up and they were useless’

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LANDLORD BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Specific Messages – most popular cont.


•No. 9 ‘Green Deal: the Government will pay to have your house fully insulated – you pay them back from the savings in your energy bills’. The principle sounded appealing, addressing the problem of up front funding of investments ‘I’m quite interested to know how it would work’ and several voted for this as their favourite idea. However, there were suspicions: ‘nightmare to administrate’ ‘they need to be looked at with great caution, these schemes’ ‘you’ll have to use Govt-approved operatives’

•No. 2 ‘Did you know that turning your thermostat down by 1 degree you will shave 10% off your fuel bill?’ Not much more than a tip, but easy and common sense: ‘a widely promoted tip’ ‘that’s advertised quite a lot on the television’ ‘it’s a tip’

2. Help

Single source of

advice and information

Money is still key. But they need some help. And local pride can be a motivator.

Make it easy – take away the hassle

1. Money

Help them with the cost of

improvements

THE ANSWER FOR LANDLORDS:Key Triggers

Plus Nudging…

Make it feel good business practice

Make it clear that everyone’s

doing it

3. Plymouth Pride

Tenant loyalty = £

Provide them with savings in their fuel bills


MAIN FINDINGS:

Carbon Reduction – SMEs

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• Our SME sample covered a range of sectors, focussing on those highlighted in the scoping conversations, including:

– retail, training, consultancy, professions, design, environmental

• Size of businesses ranged… – from around 100 staff with several office locations – down to micro-businesses with just a few staff/affiliates

• Almost all were tenants:– only one owned most of their buildings– and a couple worked from home

• Between a quarter and a third of them were light greens / believers in global warming

– the rest were across the spectrum of sceptical and not bothered

Our SMEs were exceptionally busy, and we very much appreciate their help with this study

SME SAMPLE


Generally passionate about their business and determined to succeed

Busy: •Many SMEs have too much to do – managing a business and doing the business – and feel a great deal of pressure•Some have down-staffed leaving the owner doing ‘everything’ day and night•‘Far too much else to worry about’

Admin/Red Tape:•Systems need to be efficient and easy – they don’t all have admin staff to bear the burden•But they can embrace new systems if they help their business

Recession: •Some are in better shape than others, but many feel pressured by the economic situation•Some seem on the edge of collapse

Money:•Many are pre-occupied with money, trying to maintain the income against the competition…•Whilst at the same time coping with significant cost increases

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SME CONTEXT:Main Pre-occupations


• The clear majority of this sample thought that money and saving on fuel bills was the big motivator. Even most of those who were more ‘green’ admitted that saving money was likely to be the driver: ‘Money’ …‘Yes…have you seen the price of fuel?’ ‘it comes down to cost at the end of the day if I'm completely honest’ ‘I've always been of the opinion we won't make these changes until it becomes financially viable for us’

• A few claimed that environmental consciousness – and doing the right thing - was a driver; but even they tended also to mention cost saving at the same time: ‘Saving costs, saving on electric. Just the environmental impact on the business for the environment as well. I like to be conscious about how much CO2 we’re causing’

Money and cost is the crucial driver for SMEs

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SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Spontaneous: “What encourages you to be more energy efficient?”


• And the spontaneous and top-of-mind barrier is also money – the investment required – and the fact that they didn’t think they could pass the cost on to their customers at this difficult time: ‘I haven't looked into it but I perceive there will be a cost involved, at the moment it's tough; if I were to introduce an increased cost to my customers, but even if I sold it as this is a more green product I'm not so sure my customers would see that as worth it’ ‘People like to think they care for the environment but when it comes to money… they’ll care until it costs and as soon as it costs, I couldn't pass on the cost’

SMEs are fearful of taking on additional cost at the moment – and afraid to try and pass it on to their customers

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SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Spontaneous: “What stops you from being more energy efficient?”


• We asked them to identify the three main barriers – and this provided confirmation:1. Cost: ‘perceived increase in cost’2= Lack of knowledge/help: ‘I wouldn’t know how to’ ‘It's getting carbon neutral, I wouldn’t know where to start’2= Scepticism: ‘I'm not sure it would make a difference anyway because I'm not convinced that it's man’s emissions that's causing any real problem’2= Lack of time: (Main barrier?) ‘Having the time and the money upfront to do it’

• And, in addition, few of these SMEs had ever been pressured to reduce their carbon emissions by their customers: (Do customers ever put pressure on you to make a change?) ‘Not at all, no’ ‘I do get asked a lot about Fair Trade and ethics but nobody has ever asked me about my carbon footprint’

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SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:3 main reasons stopping you from making a change?


• We then asked ‘what would encourage you to change behaviour?’. Their answers focussed on financial incentives:

• Tax-based incentives: ‘Tax breaks on green products’ ‘Reduce VAT on certain products would be fantastic. That would work’

• Loans: ‘if the Government or Council could give you an interest free loan…over 6 months or a year…I can pay that back and I'm not having to worry. Then you're saving money on that energy’

• Or other broad financial incentives / grants: ‘Something that would be easy to do, financial incentives obviously would make a massive difference’ ‘Bring back the Government grants. The incentives that were there that they took away last month’

• In addition, there were requests for help and information: ‘The easiest thing would be to have clearly illustrated ways in which I could save energy’

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SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Triggers - spontaneous


• Before showing the stimulus material, we asked for main message ideas from our SMEs:

• The main thrust focussed on financial rewards and incentives: ‘How much money they could save…if you spend £5000 on getting the solar panels done, this will take you this long to get your money back and you'll save this much a year on carbon’ (Green SME) ‘if they said you'd get tax advantages or something for using a hybrid car’

• A few suggested describing what to do and how: ‘How easy it is to do. I think people need help showing what can be done, not a broad-brush making less journeys, that's fairly obvious, but some detailed examples, and especially for someone like me…’

• Plus there were protestations: ‘Do you need to use a car, can you not walk’

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SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Triggers – spontaneous message ideas


Carolyn

Don't understand the last bullet!

• Many SMEs initially said they hadn’t heard of any carbon reduction schemes: ‘no I haven’t’ ‘no, never heard of any’ ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything’ (Anything for SMEs?) ‘No, no’

• On prompting, a few SMEs thought they’d heard of EnVision but weren’t sure what it was: ‘heard of it but I couldn’t tell you what they did’

• Only one person had heard of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership• Membership of the Chamber of Commerce and other networking organisations

was widespread, and some had been to events concerning the environment.• We had isolated mentions for:

– Energy Saving Trust– ‘Better Together’ (pledge)– Miller Patterson subsidised insulation scheme– Carbon Trust– Cosy Devon

‘All of them are quite helpful, but I think it does end up being a bit confusing for the consumer’

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SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Are there any schemes/incentives you’ve heard of?


• We showed SMEs 7 ‘Broad Messages’ to encourage reduced carbon emissions. The most popular and persuasive message by some margin was:

MAKE YOUR BUSINESS MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT - AND CUT YOUR FUEL BILLS!

• This was the closest to their desire for a financial message: ‘that’s good’ ‘yes, money’ ‘does jump out at me’

• The main weakness, mentioned by several, is the lack of detailed information about how to do this: ‘important, but could say more’ ‘it’s not telling me what to do about it’ ‘yes, relevant, so yes if I knew how to do that’

• In addition one or two saw it as a message which they’d heard many times before: ‘old and tired’

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SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Stimuli


• We also showed SMEs 17 ‘Specific Messages’ to encourage reduced carbon emissions. Three of them were very well received:

FREE EXPERTISE – AN ENERGY EFFICIENCY SPECIALIST WORKING WITHIN YOUR BUSINESS, HELPING TO CUT YOUR ENERGY BILLS AND YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

• They want help to implement changes, they want expertise – and FREE is good too: ‘clear sound advice from a neutral party would be useful’ ‘I like that because it’s free’

• A few were concerned about time commitment, and ultimate cost: ‘how long will it take, I’ve got other things to do’ ‘what about the cost of implementing the advice?’

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• We also showed SMEs 17 ‘Specific Messages’ to encourage reduced carbon emissions. Three of them were very well received:

GREEN DEAL: THE GOVERNMENT WILL PAY TO MAKE YOUR BUSINESS FULLY ENERGY EFFICIENT – YOU PAY THEM BACK

FROM THE SAVINGS IN YOUR ENERGY BILLS

• There was a lot of debate about this. In favour, a great way of getting over the cost of making changes and some genuine enthusiasm: ‘the best message I’ve seen so far’ ‘I’d be interested in that’ ‘that would be brilliant’

• But big questions about the detail: ‘I don’t like having debts’ ‘I’m not sure how serious the Government would be about helping a small business like mine’ ‘it’s a good idea, but I’m very cynical on how that would be implemented’ ‘has to be simple and easy’ ‘need to see the detail’ ‘is it actually going to happen?’ ’20 years would be daunting – maybe 5 or 10?’

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2. Help Single

source of advice and information

Money is the key priority. But practical help would also be appreciated

Make it easy

1. MoneyHelp them with

the cost of improvements

THE ANSWER FOR SMEs:Key Triggers

Plus Nudging…

Make it good for business

reputation

Weave it into networking


doing it


3. Plymouth Pride

• We asked which brand/organisation they would trust to deliver this message:

• The Chamber of Commerce was most frequently suggested: ‘Chamber would be the leader’ ‘750 members, mostly SMEs, network events’ ‘business orientation’

• Only one or two were less encouraging: ‘old boys network’ ‘no, business driven, I’m sceptical’

• Some would trust the Government or PCC ‘I’d trust the Government’ ‘Council, why not?’, but others wouldn’t: ‘but you’re getting into politics’ ‘I don’t think PCC would be a good idea’

• The other main candidate was the University, seen as thoughtful but perhaps too highbrow.

• A couple suggested a team approach: ‘joint, University and Chamber’

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SME BEHAVIOUR CHANGE:Reactions to Branding


CONCLUSIONS

And Next Steps

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89

Tend to ‘be good’

Less good

Embrace Global Warming

Sceptical aboutGlobal Warming

CONFUSED/NOT BOTHERED

DARK GREEN

LIGHT GREEN

MERCENARY SCEPTICS

NOTE: we didn’t meet dark greens during this study (although we have in previous environmental projects)

ATTITUDES TOWARDS CARBON REDUCTION ISSUES:Segmental perspectives

BLAMER/ DEPENDENCY

SENSIBLY FRUGAL

2. Plymouth pride

Plymouth will be a better place to live

Carbon reduction and Climate Change issues are becoming a ‘given’. Now they would suggest financial help – and could be

motivated by pride in Plymouth.

Switch it off

1. Money savingCosy Devon

financial incentives

THE ANSWER FOR DOMESTIC RESIDENTS:Key Triggers

Plus Nudging…

3. Advice

Peer pressure – make it clear that everyone’s

doing it

Energy Saving Trust

Save money on

fuel

2. Help

Single source of

advice and information

Money is still key. But they need some help. And local pride can be a motivator.

Make it easy – take away the hassle

1. Money

Help them with the cost of

improvements

THE ANSWER FOR LANDLORDS:Key Triggers

Plus Nudging…

Make it feel good business practice


doing it

3. Plymouth Pride

Tenant loyalty = £


2. Help Single

source of advice and information

Money is the key priority. But practical help would also be appreciated

Make it easy

1. MoneyHelp them with

the cost of improvements

THE ANSWER FOR SMEs:Key Triggers

Plus Nudging…

Make it good for business

reputation

Weave it into networking


doing it


3. Plymouth Pride

1. Financial Incentive Scheme required

2. Turn CO2 tonnes into £

3. Information phone line and website

4. Work on Local Pride Story

5. Create Blue Flag for CO2

6. Stick: fines and compulsion?

7. Nurture Peer Pressure for all three audiences

8. Crucially: how to convert research findings into action:

TMW implementation support includes:1.Helping with senior management buy-in2.Management workshops, coaching, mentoring and co-creation 3.Prioritise target audiences4.Establish and mentor Innovation Teams5.Align internal strategy with external perceptions/needs

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RECOMMENDED ACTIONS


1. Recycling

Why change?

Save the planetCut waste

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HISTORIC BENCHMARKSEnvironmental Behaviour Change

2. Dog mess

3. Carbon Reduction

How?

Peer pressure?

Enforcement

Risk of diseaseDisgusting!

Charging in some locations

Yes: £50 fine

Collection from doorstep

Free equipment from retailers

Very important – visible evidence!

Very important – easily spotted –

especially among dog

owning community

?

?

?

?


For More Information Contact Carolyn Bird (M: 07801 144012) or Simon Strutt (M: 07801 144011)

[email protected]@themarketingworks.co.uk

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Documents

1 June 2011 Research Debrief PLYMOUTH CITY COUNCIL: Carbon Reduction Study