Memorandum submitted by Global Action
Plan (CIT 07)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Global Action Plan is a charity that has 14
years of experience of encouraging people to change behaviour.
The charity currently runs three distinct programmes; Environment
Champions, EcoTeams and Action at School.
To date these programmes have concentrated mainly
on reducing waste where they have achieved significant results.
Increasingly they are now focusing on climate change. Our results
to date in this area are:
— Environment Champions has influenced
54,000 employees in 62 organisations. 924 volunteer employees
have measured the environmental impact of their organisation and
run campaigns to create change. Through Environment Champions,
14 organisations have cut energy use by an average of 12.07%.
— Through EcoTeams, 385 volunteers
have been trained to help groups of households in their community
to reduce their environmental impact. In total, 4,385 people have
participated. These households have reduced their electricity
consumption by an average of 6.86%.
— Action at School has been run
in 164 schools. 3,361 pupils have volunteered to lead the project
and have helped to influence the behaviour of 138,000 pupils.
Through Action at School, nine schools have reduced their energy
use by an average of 12%.
Global Action Plan believes that the programmes
are successful for four main reasons:
1. They use facilitated groups.
2. They use jargon-free and imaginative
communication.
3. They encourage people to measure
the changes that they are making and use this measurement to provide
positive feedback and encouragement.
4. They recognise that encouraging behaviour
change requires support over time.
If Government wishes to encourage people to
change behaviour it needs to:
— Invest in behaviour change projects.
Currently, large scale investment is made in awareness raising
campaigns which do not contain the elements that are essential
to change behaviour.
— Use periods of environmental
stress such as drought, heatwaves or flooding to promote the importance
of behaviour change. Global Action Plan believes it is important
to use these high profile environmental problems to urge people
to take practical action in social groups.
— Invest in research that explores
how data can be most effectively collected from households and
that measures the long-term and wider social and educational benefits
of behaviour change projects. Global Action Plan has found it
hard to measure these wider impacts even though anecdotal evidence
suggests that they are significant.
— Incorporate behaviour change
targets and initiatives into schools and other educational establishments
as part of the Education for Sustainable Development Strategy.
— Provide leadership by running
behaviour change projects within their central estate and to include
behaviour change targets in their wider policies such as the Central
Procurement Strategy.
— Illustrate the importance and
impact of individual choice by phasing out environmentally damaging
products such as inefficient lightbulbs and by penalising lifestyle
choices that harm the environment.
1. INTRODUCTION
Global Action Plan is a charity that encourages
people to change their behaviour to protect the environment. Through
our activities we have discovered that:
— Behaviour change projects can
achieve significant environmental savings and social benefits
providing that they are carefully structured, professionally run
and properly resourced.
— Collecting data and evidence
from these projects is complex, fraught with uncertainty and requires
resourcing.
— Government funding is usually
directed to awareness raising campaigns for which little or no
evidence of effectiveness is sought, rather than towards behaviour
change initiatives where evidence is demanded.
2. GLOBAL ACTION
PLAN AND
ITS PROGRAMMES
Global Action Plan was founded in the US in
1989 and is now established in 14 countries. Based on the knowledge
accumulated over this period we believe that effective behaviour
change programmes need to combine:
1. Structured information provision.
2. A facilitator-led group process offering
participants the chance to discuss the information presented.
3. Feedback on how the changes being
made succeed in reducing environmental impacts.
Global Action Plan UK has three programmes containing
these elements.
2.1 Action at School
Schools participating in Action at School decide
which environmental issue they intend to cover such as waste,
energy, water or transport. A "Lead Teacher" is selected
who works with Global Action Plan to draw together an "Action
Team" of roughly 20 pupils who volunteer to participate.
A Global Action Plan facilitator runs a training
day with the Lead Teacher and Action Team. This training outlines
issues surrounding the school's selected environmental issue and
highlights the sorts of behavioural solutions available to it.
Pupils then perform an environmental audit.
Following the audit, the Action Team creates
a strategy to reduce the school's impacts. This strategy usually
has two parts, the first detailing structural issues that require
action and the second outlining a campaign to encourage other
pupils and teachers to change their behaviour. Most schools organise
a launch event at which the Action Team let the rest of the school
know what is planned and why it is important to change their behaviours.
At the end of the campaign, a second audit is
undertaken in which the team is able to see how their strategy
has made a difference. After this audit, the students are given
a certificate endorsed by UNEP. The whole process takes two or
three terms.
2.2 The Environment Champions Programme
Environment Champions focuses on one or two
areas of environmental impact, such as waste and/or energy. A
team of volunteer "Environment Champions" consisting
of up to about 20 employees who ideally represent all parts of
the organisation and with varying degrees of seniority is established.
The team is then facilitated through an initial training session
in which they meet, learn the aims of the programme and carry
out an initial audit of the organisation's environmental impacts
in the chosen area.
The facilitator then compiles an audit report
detailing the organisation's environmental impacts. The team is
reconvened to design a strategy to reduce impacts. The strategy
generally has two elements. The first establishes the structural
changes required such as installing low-energy light bulbs, etc.
The second involves planning a communications campaign to the
rest of the employees. Campaigns have historically involved face-to-face
communication, displays and events, email and intranet messages
and putting up posters.
At the end of the campaign a second audit is
performed and the facilitator compiles a report detailing the
changes made and the environmental savings achieved. The team
then meets again to celebrate their success and plan the next
steps.
2.3 The EcoTeams Programme
EcoTeams helps households to change their environmental
behaviour. Teams of six to eight people are recruited. The teams
meet every month for four months. Each meeting concentrates on
a different lifestyle area. The first meeting is an introductory
session, the second focuses on waste and shopping, the third concentrates
on energy and transport issues and the fourth looks at water and
household chemicals.
In each meeting, participants are led through
a series of discussions on the local and global issues surrounding
each theme and discuss a number of proposed behavioural changes
to address the issues. In between each meeting, participants are
encouraged to record their household's waste, recycling, electricity,
gas and water usage and send the data to Global Action Plan where
savings are calculated. At the end of the programme, participants
are given a report on their progress and the environmental savings
their behaviour changes have achieved. They are also given the
option of a "next steps" meeting to discuss their achievements
and follow-up the process however they choose. The meetings are
overseen by a facilitator.
3. THE EVIDENCE
BASE
3.1 Action at School
Action at School has operated in 164 schools
from across the country. In total 3,361 pupils have been facilitated
through the training process, with a further 138,117 influenced
by the programme. The vast majority of schools have sought to
reduce their waste. This is mainly due to the availability of
funding in this area. Other schools have used Action at School
to reduce their energy use, water consumption and environmental
impact of transport.
The waste figures illustrate the potential of
Action at School for changing behaviour. On average 42.65% of
waste is saved with a maximum saving of 83.00% and a minimum of
2.10%. Less data is available for the other issues covered by
Action at School, however the following headline results have
been achieved to date:
— For nine energy programmes an
average saving of 12% was achieved with a maximum saving of 34%.
— For two transport programmes
there was an average 5% increase in walking, a 5% increase in
public transport use, and a 3% decrease in car use.
3.2 Environment Champions
A total of 62 organisations have participated,
or are participating, in Environment Champions. These organisations
come from across the UK, represent both businesses and local authority/civil
service organisations and range in size from 22 to 6,442 employees.
In total, 924 people have been through the Environment Champions
process and this has impacted upon more than 54,000 people.
Through Environment Champions 51 organisations
have sought to address waste issues and 29 have examined their
energy use. Data was available for 14 energy programmes in which
an average saving of 12.07% was achieved.
3.3 The EcoTeams Programme
The EcoTeams project has been taken by roughly
385 different teams, made up of around 2,300 people and thus impacting
upon about 4,830 people in total. The programme has achieved average
waste savings of 19.66% and an average reduction in electricity
consumption by 6.86% which translates into an absolute saving
of 713.85kWh per person per year. These electricity savings have
not yet been seasonally adjusted by Global Action Plan but we
feel that they are valid because, unlike gas, electricity is not
predominantly used for heating.
4. DISCUSSION—WHY
DO THE
PROGRAMMES WORK?
There are four key factors contributing to the
success of the programmes:
4.1 Groups
Perhaps the most distinctive feature is the
use of groups to encourage people to make behavioural changes.
In a group setting, particularly one that is supported by a facilitator,
participants are encouraged to question their habits and lifestyle
practices in a supportive environment with others who are going
through a similar process.
Groups create a new social network for their
members from which support and encouragement can be drawn. Group
members feel less isolated in making changes as they can see that
others are facing similar challenges and going through the same
process at the same time.
Groups also help to overcome issues of "trust"
in sustainable lifestyles initiatives. Rather than simply being
told what to do by a distant authority, participants share thoughts
and question issues with their peers, whose judgements being based
on personal experience often carry more weight.
4.2 Effective communications
Communications are entirely tailored to the
specific needs of the individual participants or to the organisation.
Group discussions allow team members to understand sustainable
lifestyles issues in relation to their own circumstances. In this
respect, the messages could not be communicated in a more local
and relevant fashion.
Global Action Plan's programmes avoid the use
of jargon and break down communications into meaningful and manageable
chunks as they permit participants to understand and question
the messages in their own words. If any confusion does arise,
a facilitator is on hand to clarify issues.
Communication is always positive and practical.
Facilitators actively encourage participants and never criticise
any opinions or actions that are shared. This ensures that team
members do not feel guilty about their actions.
4.3 Measurement and Feedback
By measuring and experiencing at first-hand
the environmental impacts their lifestyles or organisations have,
team members are more easily able to understand the need for changes
to be made. The measurement process acts as a continual source
of motivation for the groups.
By receiving feedback on the savings they have
made, participants gain a greater sense of efficacy. Alongside
the other members of their team, they are able to see that individuals
can make a difference if they all act together.
4.4 Process
The programmes recognise that behavioural change
does not occur overnight, but requires continued support over
time. By providing team members with this support throughout the
duration of their programmes, Global Action Plan's facilitators
ensure not only that changes occur, but that they are likely to
endure.
5. GLOBAL ACTION
PLAN'S
CALL FOR
ACTION
The evidence illustrates that substantial savings
are achieved by the programmes. These behavioural changes are
often to daily habits which are recognised as amongst the hardest
to "unfreeze". There is a real opportunity to fight
climate change by extending these types of programmes to a wider
audience. In order to do this new thinking and policies are needed.
5.1 Greater investment in behaviour change
projects is required
There is a disconnection between what Government
and its agencies say they want to happen and what they are willing
to invest in. Government seems to be comfortable making large
scale investment in media advertising campaigns that are designed
to increase awareness but are not willing to invest in programmes
that are designed to change behaviour. There is a growing level
of academic evidence that increased awareness does not translate
into changes of behaviour.
If Government is serious in its desire to encourage
people to change behaviour it needs to invest specifically in
behaviour change programmes. This investment is essential because
by their nature these programmes are time-consuming and labour-intensive.
The type of grants available has a significant
impact on the environmental issues that are covered by projects.
The predominance of schools concentrating on waste issues is entirely
due to the level of funding available for this topic. If the Government
wishes to get schools to concentrate on other issues such as energy
they need to make funding available.
The longer a project runs in an area the easier
it is to find people who are willing to volunteer for the programmes
and even to train as facilitators. The recruitment and training
of these volunteers build stronger communities and increases the
impact of the programmes. Long-term funding is essential to enable
the programmes to become established within the community.
5.2 Periods of environmental stress should
be used to promote the importance of behaviour change
The strains that we are placing on our environment
are becoming ever more apparent notably with climate change. There
is a danger that coverage of these issues will make people feel
that they are too large for them to personally address. Global
Action Plan believes that these environmental pressures should
be used to encourage people to take practical action in social
groups.
This level of encouragement will help to reduce
the major challenge of persuading people to participate in a project
that involves them meeting with people from their community.
In addition to this overall "call for action"
more sophisticated approaches are needed to encourage people to
participate. These approaches need to concentrate on areas where
people are already in social groups or where there is a cohesive
sense of community.
5.3 More investment is needed in collecting
data from behaviour change programmes
Policy makers state that they are not willing
to invest in behaviour change programmes because there is insufficient
evidence about their effectiveness. To secure this evidence investment
is required in three distinct areas:
5.3.1 Collecting data from participants
Global Action Plan is one of the few organisations
that collects hard data on the impacts of behaviour changes. In
all programmes, participants are shown how to measure and record
their results. Global Action Plan believes that this process is
important but it does have weaknesses. These include:
— Many people do not know how
to measure their electricity or gas meters or even where they
are on occasion. This can lead to the wrong measurements being
taken or none being received.
— The accuracy of readings vary.
For example, office employees may not be able to accurately weigh
the waste from all of the office's bins.
— Circumstances change between
audits. For instance relatives might be visiting or businesses
may change rapidly with more staff or through relocation.
More resources are required to improve this
data collection—possibly through SMART metering.
5.3.2 Assessing the wider impacts of the programmes
Anecdotal evidence from all of Global Action
Plan's programmes indicates that they have a wider range of benefits
than just environmental savings. Due to no resources being available,
Global Action Plan cannot collect and measure these wider impacts
and the full benefits of the programmes are not captured.
5.3.3 Assessing the long-term impact
Dutch evidence suggests that the behavioural
changes achieved by EcoTeams last for up to two years after the
programme has ended. No UK based data is available to assess the
longevity of the programme's impacts. Anecdotal evidence does
suggest, however, that UK EcoTeams have continued to meet after
the formal programme has ended. Further research is required to
capture the full extent of the long-term changes of the programmes.
5.4 Behaviour change targets should be incorporated
into schools and other educational establishments
Action at School demonstrates that behaviour
change projects within schools have an environmental, financial
and educational benefit. By incorporating behaviour change programmes
into their strategic thinking DfES and DEFRA can achieve many
of their stated targets.
5.5 Government should show leadership by running
behaviour change programmes within their central estate and incorporate
them into their wider strategies
Government has increasingly recognised the leadership
role it can play in promoting sustainable development. It has
set targets for making its buildings carbon neutral and has initiated
a sustainable procurement strategy. These initiatives could be
greatly reinforced by setting targets for running behaviour change
programmes with its employees and giving Managers the space and
time to implement these programmes effectively.
5.6 Government and industry should illustrate
the impact of individual choice by phasing out environmentally
damaging products and penalising environmentally harmful lifestyle
choices
Global Action Plan believes that people will
respond positively to signals from Government and industry that
demonstrate the importance of buying products and making choices
that do are less environmentally damaging. Phasing out inefficient
lightbulbs, making people pay more tax on inefficient cars would
send a clear message to consumers.
Global Action Plan
August 2006
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