Policies and tools for mainstreaming 1.5° Lifestyles

Project Information

EU 1.5 Lifestyles

Grant agreement ID: 101003880

DOI

10.3030/101003880

Project closed

EC signature date 10 May 2021

Start date 1 May 2021

End date 30 April 2025

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 4 945 241,25

EU contribution

€ 4 945 241,25

Coordinated by

GFZ HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR GEOFORSCHUNG
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EU 1.5 Lifestyles (Policies and tools for mainstreaming 1.5° Lifestyles)

Reporting period: 2024-05-01 to 2025-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

To limit global warming to 1.5°C and safeguard life on Earth, profound changes to consumption and production systems are required, particularly in industrialised regions. The EU 1.5° Lifestyles project addressed the urgent need to align everyday lifestyles with the Paris Agreement by promoting demand-side climate solutions involving individuals and households, and by highlighting the necessary structural transformations.

The project aimed to contribute to the mainstreaming of 1.5° lifestylesin the EU. In pursuit of this objective, it tackled three major obstacles to effective demand-side mitigation:
1. Lack of data on the mitigation potential of specific lifestyle changes;
2. Limited understanding of public acceptability and societal feasibility; and
3. Insufficient attention to structural enablers and barriers of sustainable lifestyles, such as infrastructure, governance and welfare systems.

Over four years, the project delivered new evidence on the carbon footprints and health effects of lifestyle changes, engaged citizens in designing viable options, identified structural barriers and policy levers, assessed risks such as rebound effects and examined the needs and potentials for reform of economic and welfare systems. These insights were translated into accessible formats, such as policy briefs, a citizen guide, a MOOC, videos, blog posts, and reports to support policy design, civic engagement and public debate.

The project concluded that enabling 1.5° lifestyles requires integrated policy strategies combining behavioural, structural, and governance innovations. While strong public support exists for transformative change, this must be matched with coordinated action across governance levels, to build fair and democratic eco-social (infra)structures that enable 1.5°C-aligned ways of life. Through its research and outreach, the project has made a significant contribution to scientific, policy and public discourse by offering a robust and practical framework for achieving effective and just climate action.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

From its launch to its final phase, the EU 1.5° Lifestyles project successfully achieved its objectives, producing robust evidence, tools and policy guidance to promote 1.5°C-compatible lifestyles across the EU. Our work has addressed gaps in climate mitigation data, social feasibility and policy coherence, providing actionable insights for citizens and decision-makers alike, including:
- The quantification of lifestyle carbon footprints and health effects and future consumption portfolios with clear reductions and co-benefits in nutrition, active mobility, and cost savings (WP1);
- An in-depth understanding of citizen perspectives on the feasibility and acceptability of lifestyle options via two rounds of gamified Citizen Thinking Labs in 5 countries using the Climate Puzzle developed during the project (WP2);
- Co-produced knowledge on how to transform provisioning systems, with structural leverage points identified through 11 Stakeholder Thinking Labs at national and EU levels, revealing systemic barriers, such as governance lock-ins and fragmented responsibilities between actors (WP3);
- Practical strategies for counteracting rebound risks of lifestyle change, (WP4);
- Evaluation of the impact of lifestyle change on economic and welfare systems through literature reviews, scenario planning and a multi-country Policy Delphi study, which revealed the necessity of eco-social policy mixes to align social well-being with climate goals (WP5);
- Dissemination of our outcomes (WP6), central to the focus of the project, including: (1) 3 special issues in peer reviewed journals and many more articles,; (2) a publicly accessible MOOC, launched in February 2025, accompanied by a MOOC Compendium textbook; (3) 7 policy briefs in 6 languages; (4) our Citizen Guide for 1.5° Lifestyles published in 8 languages; (5) the development of 2 national carbon calculators (HU and LV) to address critical gaps in public tools; (6) the delivery of 7 national and 2 EU-level policy/multi-stakeholder workshops, engaging over 200 policymakers, CSOs and businesses; (7) other high-impact events, including the co-organisation of the SCORAI Europe 2025 conference with over 500 participants, and 13 presentations and 5 session dedicated to the project; (8) over 82 other conference and 152 workshop presentations , and over 250 media engagements; (9) over +1100 project social media posts, 45 blog posts, and a dedicated project Youtube channel featuring a project synthesis cartoon, 5 citizen case study videos, recorded project webinars and presentations; (10) 65+ project videos overall across different platforms; (11) continued strategic collaboration with sister projects and networks (e.g. MAIA, EDITS, SCORAI EU).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

During the final reporting period, the EU 1.5° Lifestyles project made significant advances in both research and practice. Building on earlier work, it deepened our understanding of the structural, behavioural and systemic enablers of climate-compatible lifestyles. The project successfully bridged the gap between scientific knowledge and real-world engagement, offering actionable insights for citizens, policymakers, educators and civil society.

The project's structural analysis (WP3) made a novel contribution by revealing the need for integrated policy frameworks addressing deep structural barriers and new political coalitions to dismantle systemic lock-ins. WP5 built on this by demonstrating how eco-social policy mixes can facilitate emission reductions without compromising social security — an under-explored intersection in climate policy. Our Policy Delphi analysis demonstrated the importance of tailoring 1.5°C-aligned welfare policies to national contexts while taking into account differences in political economies and levels of public support.

In terms of technology, the development of country-specific carbon calculators (for Hungary and Latvia) and high-resolution footprint datasets further filled important gaps in publicly available tools for citizens. The project also set new standards in participatory methods by scaling up the use of gamified tools such as the Climate Puzzle and advancing the methodology of Citizen and Stakeholder Thinking Labs for the cross-sectoral co-creation of policy insights.

In terms of societal impact, the project reached a wide and diverse audience through the Citizen Guide (available in 8 languages), the MOOC and its Compendium, seven policy briefs and a dedicated YouTube channel featuring our synthesis cartoon, webinars and real-life case studies. The scientific legacy was secured through the launch of three special issues in peer reviewed journals and the publication of numerous further articles. The final academic conference, SCORAI Europe 2025, which was co-organised by the Consortium with SCORAI EU and MISTRA Sustainable Consumption, marked another milestone. The project's legacy lives on through its online presence, including its websites (with over 40,000 visits during the project’s lifetime) which will be serviced through 2030, MOOC, blog, and publications, as well as its ongoing engagement in policy events and academic networks.

Project Logo