Grounded Strategies : Proposal for Reducing Air Travel Emissions through Behavioural Intervention

UBC faculty members continue to fly to meetings and conferences, despite greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions from air travel being one of the primary sources of emissions for the University. This trend can be explained by two key behavioural gaps. First, the dissonance gap refers to the disparity between awareness of air travel emissions on climate change, and actual positive behavioural change.1 UBC faculty members continue to choose air travel as their mode of transportation, despite the significant environmental impacts of air travel. Second, the value-action gap, refers to the divide between pro-environmental behaviours at home and the suppression or reduction of these behaviours when travelling.11 Those who engage in pro-environmental behaviours at home are less likely to continue these behaviours when travelling for leisure, holiday or work.2 While there is research on behavioural incentives and nudges to reduce air travel, virtually no experiments have been conducted on reducing demand for air travel for academic institutions. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”Arts, Faculty ofPublic Policy and Global Affairs, School ofUnreviewedGraduat