Transitioning to low carbon communities - from behaviour change to systemic change: Lessons from Australia

Transitioning to low carbon communities requires an understanding of community practices and resultant emissions, as well as the technologies, infrastructures and institutions associated with and accessed by communities. Moreover, it requires an understanding of the connections between these integrated system components, its dynamics, a defined transition and potential 'levers' involved in 'transitioning'. This paper accepts the notion that 'levers' include programmes designed to achieve practice or behaviour change in households which result in less carbon intensive lifestyles, and focuses on the factors that shape human behaviour and influence householder energy consumption. Research to date by the authors and others indicates that a comprehensive socio-technical framework that considers both individual psychological factors as well as the systems, standards and norms under which individuals operate is fundamental to the development of successful strategies to shift towards low carbon communities. A database has been compiled of over one hundred local programmes aimed at realising carbon neutral communities across Australia largely through approaches to behaviour change. This paper presents the findings of an analysis of these programmes, particularly with regard to the extent to which they take account of a socio-technical framework or understanding of domestic consumption behaviours and whether they are aware of or aim to influence changing standards and expectations around consumption practices within the home. While a number of exemplary community-based programmes adopt an integrated approach to addressing both technical and behavioural dimensions in the shift to low carbon communities, it was found that most fail to take sufficient account of the systems, standards and norms shaping consumption. Conclusions include directions for policy and programme design based on the study findings

Low carbon urban transitioning: From local experimentation to urban transformation?

Climate change mitigation remains a contested political and policy issue nationally in Australia. Nevertheless, Australian cities have been actively engaging with low carbon policy for well over a decade and numerous actions and programs have resulted. A question arises as to whether such initiatives can amount to a transition; a systemic change from one dominant fossil-fuel based socio-technical regime, to another, fossil-free based socio-technical regime. In this paper, we review the critical literature on low carbon governance and socio-technical transitions and present a set of criteria by which we propose it is possible to assess the emergence of and/or progress towards low carbon urban transition. We then apply this approach to a case study. The paper presents findings from a review of low carbon initiatives in Australia with a particular focus on Melbourne, Victoria exploring the policy context in which these initiatives and responses have emerged, the typical approaches adopted and the implications for urban change and governance. We examine the roles of, and relationships between, different levels of government, climate change alliances, community/environmental organisations and other actors, and assess progress of the urban low carbon transition. In so doing, we identify significant shortcomings and policy disconnects which we argue are limiting progress towards a low carbon future in Victoria

Urban low carbon transitions: institution-building and prospects for interventions in social practice

As we witness increasing numbers and range of low carbon experiments, attention inevitably turns to how they are sustained and whether they can generate more systemic change in carbon-related consumption. This paper responds to the 'spatial turn' in socio-technical transitions, and the 'practice turn' in social theory to consider the role of intermediary organizations in potential shifts from experiments to institutional arrangements favouring transitions. Through the example of Climate Change Alliances in Victoria, Australia, the paper examines how such intermediary organizations seek to experiment and in so doing contribute towards institution building. With a focus on the interstitial spaces between local authorities, regional firms, agencies, and state governments we speculate on the prospects for systemic change given the resources, positioning and social strategies of the Alliances as intermediary institution builders

Reconfiguring spatial boundaries and institutional practices: Mobilizing and sustaining urban low carbon transitions in Victoria, Australia'

Carbon and efforts to decarbonize are reconfiguring urban processes and relations. As we witness increasing numbers and ranges of low carbon urban experiments attention inevitably turns to how they are sustained (Castán Broto and Bulkeley, 2013a) and how, as part of this process of sustaining, urban low carbon intermediaries (Guy et al., 2011; Hodson et al., 2013) at the local scale operate across existing boundaries, between civil society, policy and the private sector, in deliberative ways. In this chapter we develop earlier work (Moloney et al., 2010; Horne and Dalton, 2014; Moloney and Horne, 2015; Moloney and Funfgeld, 2015) focusing on the role of emerging quasi-government networks operating as intermediaries within and between not-for-profit, government and business organizations and across spatial and jurisdictional boundaries. We propose that the ways in which these types of organizations create spaces for experimentation across local government boundaries - through projects, relations and strategies - can be understood as intermediation, and that this is particularly important work in weak institutional settings, where climate change policy is contested and interests are distributed

Housing and sustainability: Bridging the gap between technical solutions and householder behaviour

There are many technical innovations for reducing water and energy use in residential housing, predominantly for new homes, but also for existing housing stock (administered through renovations). Alongside this, householders can reduce energy and water use by changing their behaviour. Although Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Australians are becoming more aware of water and energy use, overall demand is not decreasing. This is partly due to an increase in the number and size of homes, and growing numbers of single-person households. In light of this, and combined with the fact that Australia's population will continue to grow, the environmental performance of housing is becoming critical. Despite some technologies being readily available and the existence of government subsidies, uptake and usage of energy and water saving technologies is not widespread. Due to the prominence of climate change in the collective consciousness and the growing awareness of the potential financial impacts on households and communities (e.g. food and fuel costs), there is an expectation that people will change their behaviour. Technological solutions do not automatically or generally lead to reductions in energy use, nor is behaviour change inevitable - even with growing awareness

Beyond the split incentive: Governing socio-technical relations in private rental housing retrofit

No abstract available

Carbon neutral communities: A perspective from learning and social change

Abstract not availabl