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Engaging City Residents in Climate Action: Addressing the Personal and Group Value-Base Behind Residents’ Climate Actions
Abstract
Cities can play a pivotal role in accelerating climate action (i.e., climate mitigation and adaption). Yet, the success of cities’ climate strategies strongly depends on the cities’ residents, as city residents often have to accept, adopt, undertake and participate in climate actions. In the current paper, we discuss how better understanding city residents’ motives – and particularly the personal and group values that underlie city residents’ climate actions – could foster climate action in cities. Importantly, we discuss the rich literature in social sciences on personal values, which – though typically overlooked by policy makers – highlights the relevance of focusing on personal biospheric values (i.e., caring about nature and environment) in explaining and promoting individuals’ climate actions. Additionally, we provide novel insights in how perceived biospheric group values (i.e., the extent in which relevant groups are perceived to endorse biospheric values) can strengthen the value-base for climate actions, particularly among those residents who weakly endorse biospheric values themselves. Critically, we provide concrete examples of how cities can strengthen the group value-base for climate actions, thereby showing how cities can play a unique role in engaging residents in climate action.
... Many authors stress the fact that cultural and socioeconomic factors shape the motivations and attitudes behind gardening methods and environmental behaviour [4,43,44]. The social-cultural factors can be divided into different realms (see also Figure 1): households, neighbours, municipalities and society/influencers. ...
... Injunctive norms can inhibit or promote adaptation, depending on whether people believe that others approve or disapprove of this adaptation. However, Bouman and Steg [44] stated that individuals' personal values are difficult to change and that individuals' perceptions of others' values might be more malleable. This is because perceptions of group values are based on limited and biased information, so the perceived group values often deviate from the real group values, also in the area of willingness to change. ...
... Attitudes are about the values that people give-in this case-vegetation in the garden (or in the city in general). Values are a key driver for sustainability actions [44]. It is always an internal struggle to balance the different values one tries to perceive: ecological, social, financial, personal welfare, esthetical. ...
The Steenbreek program is a private Dutch program which aims to involve citizens, municipalities and other stakeholders in replacing pavement with vegetation in private gardens. The Dutch approach is characterized by minimal governmental incentives or policy, which leaves a niche for private initiatives like Steenbreek, that mainly work on behavioural change. The aim of this paper is to build a model based on theory that can be used to improve and better evaluate depaving actions that are based on behavioural change. We tested this garden greening behaviour model in the Steenbreek program. The main result is that the model provides an understanding of the ‘how and why’ of the Steenbreek initiatives. Based on this we are able to provide recommendations for the improvement of future initiatives. Steenbreek covers a wide range of projects that together, in very different ways, take into account elements of the theoretical framework; either more on information factors, or on supporting factors, sometimes taking all elements together in a single action. This focus is sometimes understandable when just one element is needed (e.g., support), sometimes more elements could be taken into account to be more effective. If a certain element of the framework is lacking, the change of behaviour will not (or will only partly) take place. The model also gives insight into a more specific approach aimed at the people most susceptible to changing their behaviour, which would make actions more effective.
... A confluence of factors enabled the creation and execution of the conference, and were aligned to support the goals and activities of the conference research team (compilation team and writing teams). These included a rising recognition of the importance of cities in the climate change debate (Bouman and Steg, 2020) linked to the adoption of an urban focused Sustainable Development Goal (Klopp and Petretta, 2017), and an increased urgency for climate change action as a result of the adoption of the Paris Agreement (Devès et al., 2017;United Nations, 2015). In addition there was sustained interest, institutional support, and substantial funding from a range of organisations and institutions (including a strong and diverse global urban climate change community), some of which had collaborated previously (see Table S.3, also Table S.4), which will have shaped the initiation, design, and implementation of the conference . ...
Cities amplify the risks from climate change and advance opportunities to address them. Scientific research offers an evidence-based approach to understanding challenges, and possible responses available to local decision makers as they manage the interface between climate change and urban environments. In March 2018, academics, practitioners and policymakers convened at the Cities and Climate Change Science Conference in Edmonton, Canada to develop an understanding of the science needed to support cities as they mitigate and adapt to climate change. This paper evaluates the process and central output of the conference, to determine how effective the transdisciplinary stakeholders were in using the conference as a platform to explore knowledge on the relationship between cities and climate change science. The paper deploys a sustainability scientific framework centred around the theme of transdisciplinarity to analyse conference documentation and interviews with academic/research, practitioner and policymaker conference organisers. Structural arrangements, power differentials, and assumptions about the prioritisation of scientific knowledge, meant that transdisciplinarity was not always achieved. Yet while the academic voice was dominant, diverse conversations were still held, as seen
in the inclusion of and recognition given to the Global South issue of urban informality in the main conference output – a Global Research and Action Agenda for Cities and Climate Change Science. Through applying a framework to evaluate participatory research for sustainability, recounting some of the learnings from this methodological approach, and suggesting how the framework could be amended for future application this paper contributes towards the knowledge on evaluation of sustainability research.
... In fact, the Beach-based tourists typology is often associated with profiles associated with "fun and excitement or self-centred values" (Do Valle et al., 2012, p. 1415. Linked to this is the fact that it is precisely those individuals with a strong egocentric component, who prioritize fun, pleasure and comfort, who tend to be less committed to the fight against climate change (Bouman & Steg, 2020). ...
Saving water in tourist destinations is most effective when guests staying in rental accommodation actively participate and collaborate in it, especially in regions where water is scarce, such as the Mediterranean. There are several guest-centred water-saving measures that may be significant and therefore play an important role in saving water, including economic ones. Measures such as taxes and/or economic incentives may be worth considering as a complement to existing water-saving actions. However, little is known about how acceptable they are to guests. To research the acceptance of these measures to guests with different profiles, 493 guests from five hotels, selected by a convenience sampling approach, were surveyed. These hotels - in the Ter River basin, a region with high water stress - stand out for their good water-saving practices. A two-step cluster analysis has been applied to analyse how acceptance of a water tax and a water incentive can be explained by the three resulting clusters. The results demonstrate the water incentive-based measure to be clearly cluster-dependant, a fact that allows to state that the design and application of an economic-based environmental measure need to consider the specific territorial characteristics of the tourist destination. This study explores potential strategies for saving water in a tourist destination facing important challenges regarding climate change and water availability since it allows for the formulation of multiple solutions to reduce water consumption dealing with water scarcity, and sheds new and important light on water resource management in tourist areas. It also highlights the essential role that visitors should adopt in relation to sustainable water consumption during their holiday, making them, together with Destination Management Organizations and the business sector, fundamental stakeholders in the sustainable use of natural resources.
... Such communication may be particularly critical to correct common misperceptions about others not caring much about nature, the environment and prosocial action 18,25,46 (see subsection 'Social factors' in the ' Aspects of crises that strengthen personal norms' section). These misperceptions may reduce individuals' outcome efficacy and motivation to engage in mitigative actions 18 , and may restrain action by politicians and other leaders to act because of a lack of perceived public support 47 . Indeed, making people aware of others' sustainable actions 30 or a group's sustainable aims (for example, corporate environmental responsibility) 48 may motivate individuals to take mitigative actions. ...
Human behaviour change is necessary to meet targets set by the Paris Agreement to mitigate climate change. Restrictions and regulations put in place globally to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 during 2020 have had a substantial impact on everyday life, including many carbon-intensive behaviours such as transportation. Changes to transportation behaviour may reduce carbon emissions. Behaviour change theory can offer perspective on the drivers and influences of behaviour and shape recommendations for how policy-makers can capitalise on any observed behaviour changes that may mitigate climate change. For this commentary, we aimed to describe changes in data relating to transportation behaviours concerning working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic across the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. We display these identified changes in a concept map, suggesting links between the changes in behaviour and levels of carbon emissions. We consider these changes in relation to a comprehensive and easy to understand model of behaviour, the Opportunity, Motivation Behaviour (COM-B) model, to understand the capabilities, opportunities and behaviours related to the observed behaviour changes and potential policy to mitigate climate change. There is now an opportunity for policy-makers to increase the likelihood of maintaining pro-environmental behaviour changes by providing opportunities, improving capabilities and maintaining motivation for these behaviours.
... Catalyzing this sense of duty has been shown as an essential mechanism for spreading a shared understanding of the social issue and demanding an expected end (Sparkman and Attari, 2020; cf. Bouman and Steg, 2020). The Bohol's civil societycitizen groups, non-government organizations, businesses, and religious groups (Respondent 3) -collectively mobilized against the coal proposal. ...
Developing countries need sufficient, reliable, and affordable energy for economic development; yet, the source of this energy remains contested. In the Philippines, coal-based electricity supplies most of the country's energy requirement. Until the moratorium on new coal-fired power plant development in 2020, the Philippine government aggressively pursued the development of the coal sector, labelling coal projects as nationally significant. With this policy direction, many local governments, including provinces and cities, rallied around coal. Dissent against this fuel, nonetheless, was also prominent, with civil society often leading these mobilizations. This paper discusses one of these movements: a civil society-business-and-ecclesial-led dissent on the proposed coal-based energy system for Bohol province. Using primary data from interviews, supplemented by social media and secondary data analysis, this paper describes the modes, strategies, and tactics of this local coal dissent. Led by a trifecta of actors, including private citizens, businesspeople, and the clergy, the movement employed nonviolent approaches through network-building, letter-writing, and social media-campaigning. As a result of this movement, the provincial government banned future coal-based development in Bohol.
... Critically, like other energy solutions [1], [2], [20], the performance of the proposed control system strongly depends on the number of prosumers that is willing to adopt it, and the degree to which these prosumers allow the optimal control scheme to control their load demand (i.e., flexibility). Such decisions of prosumers are influenced by many psycho-social factors, of which many are rooted in individuals' personal values, reflecting general, overarching motivations that guide individuals' beliefs and actions [21]- [27], and which are focal in the current paper. Two general clusters of values typically motivate individuals' energy behaviours: self-transcendence values (STV), reflecting personal goals to care for nature and the environment, other people and social welfare; and self-enhancement values (SEV), reflecting personal goals to acquire possessions, status, pleasure and comfort [28]- [30]. ...
In this paper, a novel distributed control strategy addressing a (feasible) psycho-social-physical welfare problem in islanded Direct Current (DC) smart grids is proposed. Firstly, we formulate a (convex) optimization problem that allows prosumers to share current with each other, taking into account the technical and physical aspects and constraints of the grid (e.g., stability, safety), as well as psycho-social factors (i.e., prosumers personal values). Secondly, we design a controller whose (unforced) dynamics represent the continuous time primal-dual dynamics of the considered optimization problem. Thirdly, a passive interconnection between the physical grid and the controller is presented. Global asymptotic convergence of the closed-loop system to the desired steady-state is proved and simulations based on collected data on psycho-social aspects illustrate and confirm the theoretical results.
Climate change is one of the big challenges of our time. A better understanding of how individuals form their evaluation of the risk related to climate change seems to be key to win broad support for climate change mitigation efforts. Extant research indicates that biospheric values (BV) are an important antecedent of individuals’ perception of the risk and consequences related to climate change. However, risk perception scholars have only recently started to study how BV relate to individuals’ climate change risk perception (CCRP) and much is still to be learned about this relationship. The present study contributes to this growing literature by studying the BV–CCRP relationship in a multinational context. The results suggest that the BV – CCRP relationship varies in strength between different countries. These differences can be explained in part by societies’ cultural leanings (i.e., individualism vs. collectivism) and societies’ wealth. The present research adds to our understanding of why individuals in different countries perceive climate change related risk differently and how this perception is shaped differently by biospheric values in different countries. In this way, the findings help to build a more nuanced theory of how CCRP are formed. The presented results also have implications for policymakers and NGOs who wish to increase individuals’ engagement with climate change and its consequences in different populations. In particular, the findings suggests that it might be necessary to use different strategies in different societies to achieve a greater awareness of climate change related risks.
Despite extensive works examining the influence of personal values on environmental engagements, scarce research has examined the influence of group values that are perceived as important in the society. To address this lacuna and recent calls for more cross-cultural environmental research, we investigated whether and how culture, via collectivistic orientation, influences the roles of personal values and perceived group values, namely egoistic and biospheric values, in motivating environmental engagements in a Western (the U.S.; N = 469) and an Asian (Singapore; N = 410) country. To highlight a few findings, the study showed that personal values and perceived group values differentially predicted environmental engagements. Counter to our hypotheses, biospheric group values discouraged environmental volunteerism and were not related to other environmental engagement measures. Interestingly, culturally shaped collectivistic orientation attenuated biospheric group values' negative relationship and strengthened egoistic group values’ positive relationship with public behavioral intentions. Collectivistic orientation also strengthened the positive influence of personal egoistic values, but not personal biospheric values, on public behavioral intentions and policy support. We discuss how these findings advance knowledge regarding the ways in which personal and perceived group values, coupled with culturally motivated collectivistic orientation, would encourage pro-environmental actions.
Highlights:
-personal values and perceptions of other people's values impact climate action
-individuals relatively strongly endorse biospheric values
-strong biospheric values are associated with more climate action
-people often think others endorse biospheric values less strongly than themselves
-more accurate perceptions of each other's values may promote climate action
-removing contextual barriers enables people to act upon their biospheric values
Abstract: To mitigate anthropogenic climate change, it is important to know what motivates individuals to support and take climate action. Values reflect universal, general, desirable goals which guide individuals' preferences and actions. Stronger biospheric values (caring about the environment), in particular, predict stronger engagement in climate action. Although many individuals have strong biospheric values, contextual barriers can inhibit their climate actions. Notably, policies and contextual changes that reduce contextual barriers can motivate and enable individuals to act upon their biospheric values. In addition, public participation may better engage public values in climate policies and actions as to increase their acceptability. Lastly, correcting biases that others have weaker biospheric values than oneself may also motivate individuals to support and take climate action.
Purpose: While it is often suggested that individuals' pro-environmental behaviors may be linked with their subjective wellbeing, the strength and direction (e.g., positive or negative) of this relation is unclear. Because pro-environmental behaviors impact peoples' everyday lives, understanding this relation is critical for promoting long-term environmental solutions. Using a series of meta-analyses, we systematically reviewed the literature on the association between individuals' pro-environmental behaviors and their subjective wellbeing. We hypothesized that the relation between pro-environmental behavior and subjective wellbeing would be positive and strongest among types of behaviors (e.g., sustainable purchase decisions) and indicators of subjective wellbeing which more clearly reflect personal meaning (e.g., warm glow). Retrieval: We sourced studies via PsychINFO, PsychARTICLES, GreenFile, SocINDEX, Web of Science, and Scopus, as well as professional email lists, direct contact with authors who publish in this domain, data from the authorship team, and the European Social Survey (2016). Selection criteria: We included studies with quantitative data on the relation between individuals' pro-environmental behavior and their subjective wellbeing, ultimately identifying 78 studies (73 published, 5 unpublished) for synthesis. Synthesis: Across multiple indicators of pro-environmental behaviors and subjective wellbeing, we found a significant, positive relation (overall r = .243), and this relation did not meaningfully differ across study characteristics (e.g., sample, design). As predicted, the relation was particularly strong for indicators of pro-environmental behavior and subjective wellbeing which clearly reflect meaning, such as sustainable purchase decisions (r = .291) and for warm glow (r = .408). Conclusions: We found a robust, positive relation between people's pro-environmental behaviors and subjective wellbeing, and initial evidence that this relation may be stronger the more clearly behaviors and indicators of subjective wellbeing reflect meaning. Our results indicate that program and policy-makers can seek opportunities to design "win-win" sustainability programs which could positively impact both people and the environment.
It is well-understood that biospheric personal values (i.e., finding it important to care about nature and the environment) predict individuals' pro-environmental engagement (i.e., motivations, beliefs, attitudes, actions). Yet, little is known about the potential influence group's biospheric values may have on individuals' pro-environmental engagement. In the current paper we hypothesized that when individuals perceive their group to prioritize biospheric values more strongly, their pro-environmental engagement becomes stronger (H1), and that this relationship is particularly pronounced among individuals who strongly identify with the group (H2) and who do not already strongly endorse biospheric values themselves (H3). Our study among 1711 Americans, who depending on the condition answered questions about either their American or political identity (i.e., liberal or conservative, depending on the respondent's political affiliation), found consistent support for our hypotheses across all groups. Our findings have important implications for theory on values and groups, as well for practice. Discussion provides new avenues for future research and interventions, particularly for how to motivate individuals who are not strongly personally motivated.
Personal values are reliable cross-situational predictors of attitudes and behavior. Since the resurgence in research on values following the introduction of Schwartz’s theory of basic values, efforts were focused on identifying universal patterns in value–attitude relations. While some evidence for such universal patterns exists more recent studies point out, there is still considerable variation in value–attitude and value–behavior links across cultures and contexts. Extending the existing literature on potential moderators in this paper, we introduce the concept of value-instantiating beliefs. This study looks at subjective construal of the value relevance of specific behaviors as a proximal moderator of value–attitude and value–behavior relations. We argue that a belief that construes a behavior as a valid instantiation of a value is a prerequisite for the relationship between said value and the behavior. We also argue that such value-instantiating beliefs playa central role in determining the direction of the relationship. In a web-based survey experiment (N= 1724) consisting of three trials, we presented participants with vignettes describing behavioral choices. In order to manipulate the value-instantiating beliefs, the behaviors were described either neutrally, as reinforcing the value, or as inhibiting the value. We then measured the value-instantiating beliefs, the attitude toward the behavior,and the intention to perform it. Instantiating beliefs strongly moderated the relationship between the personal values and the dependent variables in all three trials. Moreover,the direction of the relationship was determined by the instantiating beliefs. The results emphasize the plasticity of the value–behavior relation and the role of social construction in directing the motivational power of values toward concrete instantiating behaviors.
This Summary for Urban Policymakers is synthesised from SR1.5, the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and relevant supporting research. It builds on thirty years of science from the IPCC and
climate diplomacy. The Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), committed signatories to maintaining global warming to well below 2.0°C above pre-industrial levels
and pursuing efforts to limit this increase to 1.5°C. In 2016, the IPCC accepted an invitation from the UNFCCC to prepare a scientific report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C and related pathways to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Published in 2018, the resulting report is shifting the global conversation on climate change.
The SR1.5 identifies cities and urban areas as one of four critical global systems that can accelerate and upscale climate action, but recognizes this will require major transitions in how both mitigation and adaptation are undertaken. This Summary for Urban Policymakers has been produced in discussion with city practitioners and policymakers, as well as leading city networks and non-governmental organizations. It seeks to provide urban stakeholders access to the most advanced science on why the transition to a 1.5°C world is necessary and how it can be achieved.
The existence of links between personality traits, values, and well-being and self-esteem is well established, but the nature and direction of these links have been less clearly understood. This study examines longitudinally the stability of traits and values, their mutual effects, and their effects on affective and cognitive well-being and self-esteem. We analyzed data from a nationally representative panel in the Netherlands, spanning five time points spread across eight years (n = 5,159 to 7,021 per time point, total N = 11,890). We estimated trait-state-error models and random-intercepts cross-lagged panel models to account for the trait-like, time-invariant stability of the constructs. Traits were more stable than values. The bidirectional effects tended to be significant, but could be distinguished by their relative size. Traits predicted values more strongly than they were predicted by values, and generally predicted well-being and self-esteem more strongly than values did. Traits predicted broad well-being (especially its affective aspects) more strongly than they were predicted by it; values, by contrast, were predicted by well-being (especially its cognitive aspects and self-esteem) more strongly than they predicted it. The findings highlight the central role of traits for personality functioning, while also supporting the mutual constitution of traits and other personality concepts. The results are discussed in the framework of different theoretical approaches to the composition of the broader personality system.
Personal values are considered stable predictors of environmental attitudes and behaviours (e.g., Steg et al., 2014). In addition, group values are often used to characterize groups and compare them with each other (e.g., Schwartz & Bardi, 2001). However, only little is known about the influence of group values on individuals’ environmental attitudes and behaviours, and how personal and group values interact. Nonetheless, group values might have a key role in understanding and promoting pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. Group memberships are considered to have a strong influence on individuals’ thoughts, feelings and behaviours, provide grounds for personally relevant self-other comparisons, offer ways to distinguish oneself from others, and form an important part of individuals’ self-concept (e.g., Turner et al., 1987). In addition, whereas it is hard to alter personal values, it might be easier to change individuals’ perceptions of what the group values. Thereby, group values offer opportunities to intervene and motivate pro-environmental behaviours. Importantly, these implications seem to rely on individuals’ perceptions of what the group values are, rather than the more objective measure typically applied by group-value researchers (i.e., the aggregate of group members’ personal values; e.g., Schwartz & Bardi, 2001). Therefore, in our research, we focus on the role of perceived group values, personal values and their interaction in predicting pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. In a correlational study (N = 269, Dutch students) we hypothesized and found that participants typically endorse biospheric values (i.e., caring about the environment) more than they think fellow group members would do. In addition, our results indicated that the larger this difference was perceived to be, the stronger someone’s environmental self-identity (i.e., seeing oneself as a typical person who engages in pro-environmental behaviours) and engagement in pro-environmental energy behaviours. This study provides support for the relevance of considering both individual and perceived group values in environmental research. Importantly, as individuals seem to underestimate the importance group members attach to the environment, it would be interesting for future research to investigate whether interventions could reduce this misperception and, if successful, whether this will influence individuals’ pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. In our presentation, we will first discuss the correlational study presented in this abstract; thereafter, we will reflect on how interventions could alter perceived group values, present pilot data on such interventions, and discuss future study ideas.
We are facing environmental crises, but pro-environmental action is seriously lagging behind. Contrary to popular beliefs, we argue that this is not caused by people undervaluing the environment but rather by people structurally underestimating how much others care. Only through showing that many do value the environment will we inspire society-wide pro-environmental action.
Open access full text available at: https://www.cell.com/one-earth/fulltext/S2590-3322(19)30006-5
To realize ambitious climate targets, research should focus more on effective ways to encourage rapid and wide-scale changes in climate mitigation actions, and less on understanding climate change beliefs.
Energy production and use account for two-thirds of the world's greenhouse gas emissions (IEA, 2015), thereby contributing to global climate change (IPCC, 2014). Besides environmental problems, energy production and use pose societal challenges, including energy poverty and geopolitics of energy that threaten global security and prosperity. The Paris Agreement marks a historic event when countries worldwide committed to combat climate change. To achieve these ambitious targets, countries will have to shift towards more sustainable ways of producing and using energy (EC, 2016a). The residential sector accounts for about 20 to 25 per cent of the total energy consumption in European Union (EU) countries (Eurostat, 2014a) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries (IEA, 2015). If households used cleaner energy and engaged in more sustainable energy behaviours, this could significantly contribute to combating climate change (Nature Energy, 2016; Stern et al., 2016a). But which factors influence whether individuals and households act sustainably and whether they accept sustainable solutions, such as renewable energy projects? Social sciences have an important role to play in answering these questions (Clayton et al., 2015; Hackmann, Moser and Clair, 2014; Sovacool, 2014; Stern, Sovacool and Dietz, 2016b; Weaver et al., 2014). In this chapter, we take the Integrated Framework for Encouraging Pro-Environmental Behaviour (IFEP; Steg et al., 2014a) as a starting point for understanding and encouraging sustainable energy behaviour and acceptability of sustainable energy projects. More specifically, we argue that people's values influence the likelihood that people will engage in many different sustainable energy behaviours as well as influencing public acceptability of sustainable energy projects. In addition, the IFEP proposes that contextual factors affect the likelihood that people consider environmental consequences of their choices. We review cutting edge psychological literature on factors influencing sustainable energy behaviour and the acceptability of sustainable energy projects from the view of this framework. Notably, sustainable energy projects often introduce new technology and/or require behavioural change, so similar factors are likely to influence sustainable energy behaviours and acceptability of sustainable energy projects. Next, we discuss intervention strategies aimed at promoting sustainable energy behaviour and acceptability of sustainable energy projects.
Adoption of smart energy technologies, such as electric vehicles (EVs), can significantly reduce fossil energy use, provided that adopters of an EV also use the EV in a sustainable way. Hence, it is key to understand which factors affect the likelihood that the adoption of EVs promotes the sustainable use of EVs, and promote consistent sustainable energy behaviours. We argue that the motivation to adopt an EV plays a key role in this respect. When people adopt an EV for environmental reasons, this will signal that they are a pro-environmental person, thereby strengthening environmental self-identity and promoting consistent sustainable energy behaviours. We conducted two cross-sectional studies among EV adopters to test our reasoning. As expected, the more people adopted an EV for environmental reasons, the stronger their environmental self-identity, in turn increasing the likelihood that they engaged in other sustainable energy behaviours. In contrast, adopting an EV for financial or technological reasons was not consistently related to environmental self-identity and sustainable energy behaviours. These results suggest that the motivation for adopting an EV is crucial for the likelihood that people engage in sustainable energy behaviour consistently, which is key to realise a sustainable energy transition.