{"id":208648,"date":"2025-12-30T17:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T17:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/208648\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T17:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T17:28:08","slug":"dont-eat-meat-or-drive-a-car-are-lifestyle-targeted-climate-policies-eroding-our-green-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/208648\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t eat meat or drive a car: Are lifestyle-targeted climate policies eroding our green values?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n         Published on<br \/>\n            30\/12\/2025 &#8211; 11:32 GMT+1\n            <\/p>\n<p>Climate policies that target lifestyle changes risk triggering a wave of \u201cunintended negative side effects\u201d, even among people who are voluntarily trying to make sustainable choices.<\/p>\n<p>The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that lifestyle changes could help the planet slash <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/green\/2025\/12\/12\/economic-growth-has-been-linked-to-rising-emissions-for-decades-now-the-opposite-is-happen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">emissions<\/a>by up to 70 per cent by 2050. <\/p>\n<p>However, a new paper published today in the journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41893-025-01715-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\">Nature Sustainability<\/a> warns that frequently-promoted initiatives, such as eating less meat, banning cars from city centres and asking people to forego air travel, may be weakening their \u201cgreen\u201d values.<\/p>\n<p>Are climate policies backfiring?<\/p>\n<p>Researchers surveyed more than 3,000 Germans representative of the country\u2019s demographics, asking them questions about climate policies and, for comparison, COVID-19 policies. <\/p>\n<p>They found that well-intended but poorly designed mandates can make \u201cgreen\u201d citizens less eco-minded due to what is commonly known as the \u201ccrowding-out effect\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>This is where a person\u2019s aversion to control outweighs their pre-existing motivation to follow a green lifestyle. For example, they might already ride their bike, take public transportation, and be mindful when heating or cooling their home \u2013 but when they\u2019re faced with carbon-neutral policies like urban car bans, they have \u201cstrong negative reactions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Climate change vs COVID-19<\/p>\n<p>Researchers found a 52 per cent greater negative response to climate mandates than COVID-19 mandates, which garnered \u201cincredible hostility\u201d around the world \u2013 especially in countries such as the US.<\/p>\n<p>Public rebellion grew during the pandemic, with thousands refusing to adhere to rules such as wearing a mask in public and social distancing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt looks like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/green\/2025\/12\/23\/uk-newspapers-cant-stop-talking-about-net-zero-but-wheres-the-mention-of-climate-change\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">climate case<\/a>could be much worse,\u201d says economist Sam Bowles, one of the study\u2019s authors. \u201cThe science and technology to provide a low-carbon way of life is nearly solved but what\u2019s lagging behind is a social-behavioral science of effective and politically viable climate policies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How can climate policies cultivate green values?<\/p>\n<p>Researchers say there is still reason for optimism, after finding that resistance was less for people who felt that the policy was effective, didn\u2019t restrict their freedom of choice, and wasn\u2019t intrusive on their privacy or their body. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Germany, there is less opposition to limitations on short-haul flights compared to other policies,\u201d behavioural economist and psychologist Katrin Schmelz, lead author on the study, says. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis may be because the European train network provides an adequate alternative (which may not be the case in the US, for example).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 30\/12\/2025 &#8211; 11:32 GMT+1 Climate policies that target lifestyle changes risk triggering a wave of \u201cunintended&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[96756,390,127185,127186,273,3090,111,139,69,147,53187],"class_list":{"0":"post-208648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-carbon-footprint","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-climate-protection","11":"tag-covid-19-restrictions","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-global-warming","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-scientific-research"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}