Why BP’s withdrawal from solar is no surprise

Posted on February 6, 2012 by

Why did BP quit the solar industry and what will that decision mean? We asked two leading commentators for their analysis.

This first post is by Charlie Kronick, senior climate advisor at Greenpeace UK 

Many have noted BP’s decision to move out of solar energy after dabbling for 40 years.  When everyone from Google to Warren Buffet to Trans Canada (the company trying to build the KeystoneXL  pipeline) is moving into solar energy, BP has decided to wind down that portion of its business.

Why? The global reputation of the company is battered, in the wake of selling off a dangerous and unprofitable refinery business in the US (including Texas City refinery, where an explosion killed 15 and injured 170 in 2005); the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon accident; and the finally abortive attempt to tie up with Rosneft in the Russian Arctic in 2010.  Why would BP finally jettison one of its nominally more attractive assets? Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Energy demand | 1 Comment

Don’t give up on voluntary agreements for food waste

Posted on February 2, 2012 by

This is a guest post by Julie Hill, author of The Secret Life of Stuff, and a Green Alliance associate.

The news that the companies signed up to WRAP’s Courtauld Commitment are seriously off track for meeting their target for reducing food waste in their supply chains (only 0.4 per cent reduction against a target of five per cent by end of 2012) will doubtless be seized upon by opponents of  ‘voluntary agreements’.  Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Policy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Why businesses need incentives for resource security

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

This is a guest post by Julie Hill, author of The Secret Life of Stuff, and a Green Alliance associate.

Later this spring, the government will publish its Resource Security Action Plan. The Plan is a response to business concerns about resource availability, since Chinese restrictions on rare earth exports, and the price spikes induced by high global demand and commodity speculation, have set off panic in all directions. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Energy demand, Policy | 1 Comment

Behaviour change theory: psychological factors

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

Following on from last week’s introductory post on behavioural theory, here’s a summary of some of the individual-level factors that influence whether people do green things or not.

Rational beings?
In standard neoclassical economics, people are seen as self-interested, rational beings who weigh up the costs and benefits of various actions, and proceed accordingly. While people do sometimes act rationally in their own self-interest, this model has been criticised for failing to take into account many of the psychological, social and contextual factors that also affect our behaviour.

Behavioural economists, for example, argue that we do many things automatically and are often guided by psychological and social biases. This approach forms the basis of the 2010 Institute for Government MINDSPACE report, and for the popular book Nudge, both of which have had some influence on the government’s response to the challenge of pro-environmental behaviour change. Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour change, Beyond nudge, Energy demand, Policy, Psychology | 3 Comments

How to get a good deal from the Green Deal

Posted on January 18, 2012 by

The government’s consultation on its Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) proposals ends today. These are the government’s flagship carbon reduction policies, aimed at reducing carbon emissions from homes and small businesses. They are both due to launch this autumn.

Under our Climate Leadership Programme, Green Alliance worked with three coalition MPs in their constituencies in late 2011, looking at what the current proposals would mean in practice and how they could be improved. We found that the Green Deal is at risk of very low uptake by the public, especially if the needs of local economies and the fuel poor are ignored. Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour change, Energy demand, Policy | Leave a comment

Advertising is everywhere – and greens need to take it seriously

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

This is a guest post by Guy Shrubsole, director of the Public Interest Research Centre 

What did you watch over Christmas? Sky’s new production of Treasure Island? A catch-up of season two of The Killing? Or… lots of adverts?

Whatever you watched, it’s very likely that you got treated to a high volume of advertisements. The average Briton is exposed to 250 TV commercials every week[1], and that’s just broadcast ads. Environmental campaigners and behaviour-change analysts rightly focus much of their attention on influencing editorial agendas – getting a cause into the news or ensuring a documentary about an issue is accurate. But to keep on ignoring the commercial advertising that surrounds such editorial agendas (and thanks to product placement, increasingly pervades them) would be a big mistake. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Behaviour change theory: an introduction

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

Why do we live in draughty houses, drive gas-guzzling cars, or throw plastic bottles in the rubbish bin?

As part of my research last year, I put together a summary of some of the key drivers of human behaviour that relate to sustainable living, drawing on a range of different disciplines from behavioural economics to sociology. This wasn’t published as part of our final policy report, so I’m going to post it here over the course of three blog posts. Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour change, Beyond nudge, Communications, Psychology | 2 Comments

Three trends that will shape environmental politics in 2012

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

This post is by Matthew Spencer, director of Green Alliance

Returning this week to a suitably calm diary I’ve been pondering the shape of the year to come for the environmental community. Economic turbulence and political volatility are easy to predict, even if their impact is not – but what else will define 2012? Here are three related trends to look out for in the coming year:

1. Radicalisation of the UK’s biggest charities will continue

The most significant political development of the last year was the willingness of naturally cautious conservation organisations to challenge the government’s central belief that deregulation will deliver growth. Both the tone and the substance of the Coalition’s assault on environmental regulation has profoundly upset their members as well as staff and trustees. Continue reading →

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Unwanted Christmas gifts cost £2.4bn – nearly as much as the Green Investment Bank

Posted on January 5, 2012 by

This is a guest post by Julie Hill, author of The Secret Life of Stuff, and an associate of Green Alliance.

If, like me, you’ve emerged from the whole Christmas gift-giving experience feeling bruised and wondering what it’s all about, I have a message of hope.  One that can be developed throughout the coming year, with the intention of making next Christmas a little psychologically easier on us all.   Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour change, Fresh thoughts, Psychology | Leave a comment

Why wasteful design still dominates, despite alternatives

Posted on December 21, 2011 by

This is a guest post by Tracey Rawling Church, director of brand and reputation at Kyocera Mita UK

Of all the innovations of the computer age, the laser printer is probably the most inherently wasteful. This ubiquitous device is the product of a business model that seeks to maximise long-term revenue from the sale of premium priced consumables – often referred to as a “razor and blade” model.

It doesn’t have to be this way. There’s no technological reason for all that is mechanically clever about the device to be contained in a disposable cartridge; it’s a commercially-driven decision. But the need to justify the price premium charged for the cartridges has resulted in a complex product design that builds in redundancy.  Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Energy demand, Recycling | Tagged , | Leave a comment