A Champion, Any Champion: Leveraging Household Climate-Change or Energy-Efficiency Champions for Achieving Zero Emission Targets

Abstract

Abstract Relationships between household members can be a significant determinant of the household’s overall stance towards energy efficiency and climate change. One understudied aspect of such within-household relationships is the role of champions. While the household champion is not a new concept, little previous research has examined the impact of champions on a household’s attitudes and actions directed towards energy efficiency and climate-change mitigation. Here, we use regression methods and a sample of 2,278 people drawn from the general population of Australia to show that household champions do significantly influence the way in which households regard these issues, and consequently the types of mitigation behaviour they engage in. There is a positive association between the presence of a champion and involvement, the perceived importance of the issue, efficacy, behaviour and behavioural intentions. While the presence of a climate-change champion was found to lead to a more substantive effect on behaviours, the presence of any champion in the household was found to have a meaningful influence on the extent of household energy-related behaviours. This was irrespective of whether they were championing energy efficiency or climate change, which household member they were and whether they were the respondent or not. These findings suggest the importance of differentiating strategies to drive behavioural change depending on whether there is someone to champion the cause in a household, as well as the type of champion present.