Project description
Shifting mindsets for sustainable consumption
Unsustainable consumption drives the climate crisis and requires urgent structural policy solutions. While awareness exists, individual changes are often inadequate. Both citizens and policymakers must recognise the barriers to sustainable living and promote effective solutions. The ERC-funded SUSCON project aims to reveal the limitations of current sustainability mindsets and explore psychological mechanisms for adopting a more effective perspective that recognises structural influences on behaviour and systemic policy solutions. By using methods such as public goods games, ecological momentary assessment, policy scenarios and natural language processing, the project will show how these mindsets impact structural awareness, cooperation and policy support among citizens and policymakers. It will also explore ways to encourage a mindset shift.
Objective
Unsustainable consumption is a key driver of the climate crisis and must be urgently addressed to stay within planetary boundaries. Despite widespread awareness, personal lifestyle changes have proven insufficient and difficult. Rather than relying on individual self-control alone, major structural policy solutions addressing the systemic roots of the social dilemma of unsustainable consumption are needed. Thus, citizens, as well as policymakers, need to become more aware of the significant constraints to sustainable lifestyles and to support and actively promote such policy solutions. I argue that this very process is psychologically hindered by an individual autonomy mindset, characterized by an emphasis on personal autonomy, a neglect of the pervasive influence of structural factors on choice (structural blindness), and a focus on individual solutions for self-optimization.
SUSCON aims to expose the limitations of this mindset for advancing the sustainability transformation and to understand the psychological mechanisms needed to shift towards an alternate mindset—one that better recognizes structural influences on behavior and the benefits of more systemic policy solutions. Using a diverse set of methods including public goods games, ecological momentary assessment, policy scenarios, and natural language processing, I will demonstrate how these opposing mindsets influence structural awareness, cooperation, and policy support in citizens and policymakers, and explore novel avenues for fostering a shift in mindset.
By intertwining psychology with sociology, economics, and political science, SUSCON seeks to deepen our understanding of mental barriers to sustainable consumption and to chart the foundations for more effective governance. The project challenges conventional narratives and provides valuable insights for policymakers, contributing to the development of more effective climate policies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
44801 Bochum
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.