Community based social marketing for greenhouse gas emission reduction in households

The European Union (EU) has set an ambitious goal to achieve a carbon neutral society by 2050. In response, several EU member states, including Lithuania, pledged to achieve 100% renewables in the final energy consumption. The main ways of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the energy sector are (1) the energy efficiency improvement and (2) the use of renewable energy sources (RES). Although many policies and measures were implemented to promote a fast penetration of renewables, especially in the supply sector, there is a massive GHG emissions reduction potential in households. However, there are several social and behavioral barriers hampering a fast penetration of renewables into households. Therefore, new well-targeted policies are necessary to overcome these barriers. The community based social marketing (CBSM) can be applied to promote GHG emissions reduction in households through behavioral changes. This paper evaluates the carbon emissions reduction potential at the household level driven by CBSM. The research is conducted in the Kaunas district municipality in Lithuania, having quantitative and qualitative components. The results show that ~20% energy could be saved in households through behavioral changes initiated by CBSM; and that it is possible to achieve significant GHG emissions reduction, save energy and money without making any major investments in households. The average realistically achievable GHG emissions reduction potential for one Lithuanian household is ~500 kg CO₂ equivalent per year. These results can be used to roughly assess the energy saving and GHG emissions reduction potential of all Lithuanian households due to behavioral changes. This study also shows that the main obstacles to behavioral changes in households (after the implementation of intervention measures) are: lack of knowledge, lack of trust in information sources, inertia, values, etc.