Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung ISI

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 31
  • Publication
    The relationship between willingness to pay and carbon footprint knowledge: Are individuals willing to pay more to offset their carbon footprint if they learn about its size and distance to the 1.5 °C target?
    ( 2024)
    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
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    Alsheimer, Sven orcid-logo
    We examine individuals' willingness to pay to offset their carbon footprint (WTPO) in response to receiving information about (i) their own carbon footprint size (size nudge), and (ii) receiving information about their own carbon footprint size and the gap with per-capita GHG emissions consistent with the 1.5 °C target (distance-to-target nudge). We employ a demographically representative online survey among the adult population in Germany which includes a carbon footprint calculator and the randomized information nudges. Results from estimating double-hurdle regression models suggest that the size nudge increases participants' average WTPO by about one third. Yet, we find only limited support that the distance-to-target nudge affects participants' WTPO. We further find that participants' response to the information nudge is primarily effective for younger participants, females, participants with mid-range income, with high levels of education, and with low to medium-sized carbon footprints, ceteris paribus. Further, the WTPO is positively related with income, education, carbon literacy, and environmental preferences. Also, participants tend to underestimate the size of their carbon footprint relative to that of others. We find no evidence, however, that participants' WTPO depends on whether they believe that their carbon footprint is lower or higher than that of others.
  • Publication
    On the relationship between individual carbon literacy and carbon footprint components
    ( 2024)
    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
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    Dütschke, Elisabeth orcid-logo
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    Kanberger, Elke
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    Ziegler, Andreas
    To mitigate climate change, individual greenhouse gas emissions need to decline substantially. This paper empirically explores the relationship between individual carbon footprints and carbon literacy as well as socio-economic and attitudinal factors. To operationalize carbon literacy, we distinguish between carbon knowledge and carbon engagement. Our econometric analysis uses widely representative survey data for 1000 individuals in Germany and distinguishes between components of an aggregate carbon footprint and of carbon footprints related with electricity consumption, heating, motorized individual transport, aviation, and dietary choices. We find a negative and sizeable correlation between carbon engagement and the aggregate footprint, as well as the footprints related to electricity consumption and diet. For example, a one-unit increase in our index reflecting carbon engagement corresponds to a decrease in the aggregate carbon footprint of about 4%. Furthermore, for carbon knowledge we find a negative correlation with the carbon footprint from diet. We also find significant correlations between the carbon footprints and gender, age, income, education, environmental preferences, and policy orientation, which generally exhibit the intuitively expected signs, but differ somewhat across activities. Overall, our findings support the notion that fostering carbon engagement represents a more effective strategy for reducing individuals' carbon footprints than enhancing carbon knowledge.
  • Publication
    Do green electricity tariffs increase household electricity consumption?
    ( 2023)
    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
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    Schuler, Johannes
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    Pfaff, Matthias
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    Frank, Regine orcid-logo
    In this paper we investigate whether households change electricity consumption after they switch to a green electricity tariff. Using metered data of household electricity consumption from a large provider of green electricity in Germany, our quasi-experimental analysis finds that household switching to a green tariff leads to a non-monetary renewable rebound effect of around 7.7%. Further, our findings imply that this renewable rebound effect is persistent over at least four years. These findings are observationally consistent with moral licencing effects which induce households to permanently change their habitual behaviours and/or to acquire additional electricity-consuming technologies. Thus, failure to account for a renewable rebound in policy evaluation may lead to systematically underestimate the costs of achieving energy and climate targets.
  • Publication
    Preferences on financing mechanisms for thermal retrofit measures in multi-owner buildings: A discrete choice experiment with landlords and owner-occupiers in France
    ( 2023)
    Fanghella, Valeria
    ;
    Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte
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    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
    ;
    Sebi, Carine
    Thermal retrofit of existing buildings is a major challenge for the energy transition. Retrofitting multi-owner buildings is particularly challenging because it involves multiple co-owners with heterogeneous preferences and incentives to renovate. We conduct a discrete choice experiment on thermal retrofit measures with landlords and owner-occupiers of condominiums in multi-owner buildings in France. Attributes include financing mechanisms (equity, private loan, and collective loan), transferability of loans (i.e. loans, which may be transferred to the next owner in case the condominium is sold), heating cost savings (absolute and relative to other co-owners in the same building), and investment costs. Results from estimating mixed logit models suggest that participants prefer on average equity financing over loan financing and collective loans over private loans. Aversion to loan financing appears to be partly due to debt aversion. The results also suggest that for loan financing, co-owners prefer transferable loans. Further, co-owners do not like retrofit measures that result in higher heating cost savings for other co-owners in the same building than for themselves. Thus, asymmetric distribution of benefits of thermal retrofit measures may impede acceptability of such measures in multi-owner buildings. Finally, the findings provide no evidence for a landlord-tenant split incentives problem in our sample.
  • Publication
    Social innovation supports inclusive and accelerated energy transitions with appropriate governance
    ( 2023)
    Sovacool, Benjamin K.
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    Brugger, Heike orcid-logo
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    Brunzema, Iska
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    Dańkowska, Alicja
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    Wemyss, Devon
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    Vernay, Anne-Lorène
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    Betz, Regina
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    Avelino, Flor
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    Geus, Tessa de
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    Dembek, Agata
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    Hielscher, Sabine
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    Dütschke, Elisabeth orcid-logo
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    Iskandarova, Marfuga
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    Müller, Leticia
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    Musiolik, Jörg
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    Ranville, Adélie
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    Stasik, Agata
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    Strumińska-Kutra, Marta
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    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
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    Winzer, Christian
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    Wittmayer, Julia
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    Rogge, Karoline S.
    Accelerating energy transitions that are both sustainable and just remains an important challenge, and social innovation can have a key role in this transition. Here, we examine the diversity and potential of social innovation in energy systems transformation, synthesizing original mixed methods data from expert interviews, document analysis, social innovation experiments, a representative survey, and an expert survey. Based on a thematic analysis of these data, we advance four key findings: (1) the diversity of social innovation in energy is best understood when recognizing core social practices (thinking, doing, and organizing) and accounting for changes in social relations (cooperation, exchange, competition, and conflict); (2) governance, policy networks, and national context strongly shape social innovation dynamics; (3) processes of social innovation are implicated by multidimensional power relations that can result in transformative changes; and (4) social innovation in energy generally has strong social acceptance among citizens, benefits local communities and is legitimized in key community and city organizations. We discuss an agenda for 9 future research directions on social innovation in energy, and conclude with insights related to national context, governance, and acceleration.
  • Publication
    Individual characteristics associated with risk and time preferences: A multi country representative survey
    ( 2023)
    Meissner, Thomas
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    Gassmann, Xavier
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    Faure, Corinne
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    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
    This paper empirically analyzes how individual characteristics are associated with risk aversion, loss aversion, time discounting, and present bias. To this end, we conduct a large-scale demographically representative survey across eight European countries. We elicit preferences using incentivized multiple price lists and jointly estimate preference parameters to account for their structural dependencies. Our findings suggest that preferences are linked to a variety of individual characteristics such as age, gender, and income as well as some personal values. We also report evidence on the relationship between cognitive ability and preferences. Incentivization, stake size, and the order of presentation of binary choices matter, underlining the importance of controlling for these factors when eliciting economic preferences.
  • Publication
    Linking of a multi-country discrete choice experiment and an agent-based model to simulate the diffusion of smart thermostats
    ( 2022)
    Chappin, Emile J.L.
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    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
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    Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte
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    Faure, Corinne
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    Bouwmans, Ivo
    In this paper, we link findings from a demographically representative discrete choice experiment (DCE) in eight European countries on the adoption of smart thermostats with an agent-based model (ABM) in a methodologically consistent way. We employ the ABM to simulate the diffusion pattern of smart thermostats until 2030 and to examine the effects of subsidies and recommendations by specific agents. Our findings highlight the importance of allowing for within- and across country heterogeneity in preferences for these policies and for technology attributes such as heating cost savings. Further, social interactions reinforce country differences in technology stock in the starting year of the simulations. We find that subsidies moderately accelerate the diffusion of smart thermostats, but they are less effective in countries with a large stock of smart thermostats in the starting year, strong preferences for heating cost savings, and when smart thermostats lead to a strong reduction in heating costs. For some countries, targeting subsidies at particular socio-economic groups (in our case low-income households) slightly mitigates free-riding effects. Our policy simulations further imply that recommendations by energy providers or by energy experts accelerate the diffusion of smart thermostats compared to recommendations by peers.
  • Publication
    Household acceptability of energy efficiency policies in the European Union: Policy characteristics trade-offs and the role of trust in government and environmental identity
    ( 2022)
    Faure, Corinne
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    Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte
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    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
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    Tu, Gengyang
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    Whitmarsh, Lorraine
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    Whittle, Colin
    This research investigates the acceptability of energy efficiency policies among European households. Based on large-scale surveys in Italy, Poland, Sweden, and the UK, we use a discrete choice experiment to study the tradeoffs made by households between various policy characteristics including policy target level, dependence on energy imports, policy instruments (education and information programmes, standards, taxation, energy consumption limit), costs to the household, and distribution of costs between households and other sectors. In particular, we investigate the role of trust in government and of environmental identity on the acceptability of these policy characteristics. Across the four countries, we find that households prefer effective policies, dislike personal costs, and prefer non-coercive to coercive instruments; further, trust in government helps make coercive policies such as taxes more acceptable, whereas higher environmental identity makes consumption limits more acceptable.
  • Publication
    Discriminatory subsidies for energy-efficient technologies and the role of envy
    ( 2022)
    Fanghella, Valeria
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    Faure, Corinne
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    Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte
    ;
    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
    Discriminatory subsidies, that is, subsidies for which only a subset of the population is eligible, are widespread. However, research on social preferences suggests that non-eligible households may negatively respond to these subsidies. We investigate both eligible and non-eligible households' response to discriminatory subsidies for smart thermostats using a discrete choice experiment with 3071 owner-occupiers from France and Romania. Households are randomly exposed to discriminatory subsidies through a between-subject design that manipulates two factors: type of discrimination (positive or negative) and eligibility criteria (based on geographical location or on household characteristics). A control condition (uniform subsidy) is also included. In addition, we elicit envy via an incentivized game in the sample from France. Our results show that eligible households are more likely to adopt a smart thermostat, regardless of whether the subsidy is uniform or discriminatory. By contrast, non-eligible households are less likely to adopt it, especially when eligibility criteria are based on household characteristics. We find no evidence for a moderating effect of envy.
  • Publication
    Adoption of retrofit measures among homeowners in EU countries: The effects of access to capital and debt aversion
    ( 2021)
    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
    ;
    Faure, Corinne
    ;
    Meissner, Thomas
    Energy efficiency policies often involve low-interest loans for retrofit measures in private buildings; the main target of these loans are meant to be households with otherwise poor access to capital. However, such programs can only be successful if the targeted households also take up these loans. This paper studies the relation between access to capital and debt aversion and the adoption of retrofit measures in European Union countries, employing a demographically representative household survey including about 6600 homeowners in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The findings suggest that debt aversion negatively affects the adoption of retrofit measures by homeowners. In particular, debt-averse homeowners with poor access to capital are less likely to have adopted retrofit measures than non-debt-averse homeowners with poor access to capital. The findings further provide evidence that low-interest loan programs should be targeted at younger homeowners with lower income and less formal education.