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Building low carbon communities in China: The role of individual’s behaviour change and engagement

Author

Summary, in English

Low carbon sustainability has been addressed in China’s national development strategies. This research explores individual behaviour change and engagement in building low carbon communities in China through a case study looking at the building of a low carbon campus at Fudan University, Shanghai. Individual behaviour directly influences the overall energy consumption and carbon emissions on Fudan University’s campus. Even though relevant polices have been issued for energy conservation, the energy consumption increased by 5% every year, which suggests that the “top-down” approach telling students and staff “what to do” does not work effectively. Based on a comprehensive method which includes the individual and social aspects related to the energy behaviour, the research analyses the promotion of individual engagement in building a low carbon campus through behaviour change based on four main aspects: (1) awareness raising and behaviour forming; (2) approaches to encourage behaviour change; (3) beyond the barriers and the constraints; and (4) systems and mechanisms for the long-term engagement. A low carbon management system is proposed for not only addressing management and technical solutions at the university level, but also based on the contributions from behaviour changes in establishing a low carbon campus at Fudan University at the individual level.

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Pages

611-620

Publication/Series

Energy Policy

Volume

60

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Social Work

Keywords

  • Individual behaviour change
  • Low carbon communities
  • China

Status

Published

Project

  • Lund Human Rights Research Hub

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1873-6777