It Pays to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
"Framing corporate engagement with carbon pricing policy as either proactive or compliant plays a significant role in determining consumer attitudes and behaviors towards both companies and carbon pricing policy."
You might be willing to pay more in a cafe for fair-trade coffee and you might be persuaded to purchase a reusable bag for a higher fee when grocery shopping. As consumers, there are factors besides price that weigh in on our decision-making about what types of goods to buy and where to buy them from. Organizations and governmental agencies promoting environmental policy must understand what drives consumer behavior regarding socially and environmentally responsible companies.
Our latest research at The Decision Lab is shedding light on how corporate action on climate change — especially in response to carbon pricing policies—influences consumer attitudes towards the company and how interested they are in being their customer. The findings also offer important insight into the framing effects associated with Canada’s carbon pricing policies.
References
[1]: Arora, Seema, and Shubhashis Gangopadhyay. 1995. “Toward a Theoretical Model of Voluntary Overcompliance.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 28 (3): 289–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-2681(95)00037-2.
[2]: Chong, Dennis, and James N. Druckman. 2007. “Framing Theory.” Annual Review of Political Science 10 (1): 103–26. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.072805.103054.
[3]: Dale Beugin, Brendan Frank, Glen Hodgson, Richard Lipsey, Nancy Olewiler, and Chris Ragan, Ecofiscal. n.d. “Clearing the Air – How Carbon Pricing Helps Canada Fight Climate Change – by the Ecofiscal Commission.” Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission. Accessed February 1, 2019. https://ecofiscal.ca/carbon-pricing-works/.
[4]: “Federal Carbon Price Impacts on Households in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.” n.d. EnviroEconomics. Accessed January 17, 2019. www.enviroeconomics.org/single-post/2018/09/21/Federal-Carbon-Price-Impacts-on-Households-in-Alberta-Saskatchewan-and-Ontario
[5]: Lin, Hsiu-Yi, and Meng-Hsiang Hsu. 2015. “Using Social Cognitive Theory to Investigate Green Consumer Behavior: Using Social Cognitive Theory to Investigate Green Consumer Behavior.” Business Strategy and the Environment 24 (5): 326–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1820.
[6]: Peterson, St-Laurent, Guillaume, Shannon Hagerman, Robert Kozak, and George Hoberg. 2018. “Public Perceptions about Climate Change Mitigation in British Columbia’s Forest Sector.” Edited by RunGuo Zang. PLOS ONE 13 (4): e0195999. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195999.
[7]: Wu, JunJie. 2009. “Environmental Compliance: The Good, the Bad, and the Super Green.” Journal of Environmental Management 90 (11): 3363–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.05.017.
About the Author
Jayden Rae
Jayden has a particular interest in studying how public policy can be used as a tool to help individuals and organizations make decisions to protect the environment. She has previously worked in the domain of environmental policy at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. She is a founding director of the environmental non-profit Climatable, which focuses on engaging Canadians in climate change action. Jayden received her bachelor’s degree from McGill University in environment and political science.
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