Greening Household Behaviour

Personal behaviour and choices in daily life, from what we eat to how weget to work or heat our homes, have a significant – and growing – effecton the environment. But why are some households greener than others?And what factors motivate green household choices? Answering these questions is vital for helping governments design and target policies that promote “greener” behaviour. The OECD’s Environmental Policy and Individual Behaviour Change (EPIC) survey is designed to do just that. This large-scale household survey explores what drives household environmental behaviour and how policies may affect household decisions. It focuses on five areas in which households have significant environmental impact: energy, food, transport, waste and water. This policy paper is based on the second round of the EPIC survey, carried out in 2011 (the first was in 2008). The survey collected information from more than 12 000 households in Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.      

OECD Environment Policy Papers

Greening Household Behaviour

A review for Policy Makers