Behavioural, social and cultural change for the Green Deal (LC-GD-10-2-2020)

RIA Research and Innovation action

Specific Challenge:

All areas of the European Green Deal, from climate action to zero pollution, require considerable changes in societal practices and in the behaviour of individuals, communities, and public and private organisations. These changes concern, for example, mobility behaviour, minimising traffic-related emissions and energy/resource consumption, protecting or restoring biodiversity, etc. including changes achieved through collective and participatory processes or a sense of environmental citizenship and climate justice.

Several foci of behaviour and mind-set are at play in interconnected ways: concerns for: personal health and well-being; for the planet; for decent work; for fairness and solidarity, etc. Ways of combining individual, collective socio-economic and environmental benefits should be sought wherever possible.

Disadvantaged and vulnerable social groups and groups and communities most affected by the transition need special attention. Their existing practices, for example, may combine environmentally friendly, circular habits with practices that are detrimental to both their own health and to the environment (from dietary choices, mobility and travel behaviour to inappropriate use, reuse and disposing of materials), but to which they see no feasible alternatives. Similarly, differences of perception (in different regions of the EU, among different social groups, across genders and various age groups) of the urgency of the climate change and other environmental issues, on the most appropriate measures needed and hence also on the urgency of related behaviour change, need focused attention. Other categories of actors have to face challenging dilemmas, such as economic agents bearing major additional costs, adaptations or even phasing out of their activities due to Green Deal requirements. In such cases, individual change should be addressed in the context of the collective benefits and cost-sharing arrangements of the Green Deal and it should be associated to broader structural measures to support affected groups. Addressing these issues requires research and experimentation on behavioural, social and cultural change across Europe, founded on transdisciplinary expertise and strong ethical and methodological standards. Moreover, these actions should be accompanied with comparative research and feedback to ensure continuous monitoring and learning, foresee robust impact evaluation methods and take account of possible trade-offs, unintended consequences or rebound effects.

Pressupost: 10 milions pel tòpic; entre 3-5 milions per projecte

Data límit: 26 Gener 2021 17:00:00 Brussels time

Web de la convocatòria: enllaç

Més informació, contacta amb la Secció de Programes Europeus i Internacionals de l'OITT: european.office@udg.edu