Summary of presentation made at “3rd UK-Japan Low Carbon Society Workshop, Tokyo, 13th -15th February, 2008

Low carbon cities and behavioral change
Shobhakar Dhakal
Executive Director, Global Carbon Project (www.globalcarbonproject.org)
c/o National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Japan 305 8506
E-mail: shobhakar.dhakal@nies.go.jp

Urban/city at nutshell and behavioral changes
Almost half of the world population lives in urbanized areas. Cities generate a large share ofglobal GDP, consume a high share of global commercial energy, and emit a large share of global
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions already. In the future, the CO2 emissions per capita in cities ofdeveloped countries is already high and will resist to decline while additional 1.8 billion newurban dwellers- most of them from developing countries- will be added in next 25 years whowould demand more energy per capita and demand to emit more than before. Therefore, greatchallenges lie on to find how to develop low-carbon cities or to re-orient existing cities towards
low carbon pathways. However, the scientific and policy responses to urban energy and carbon
management challenges have been inadequate and wrongly placed. They are fragmented, follow
reductionism approach (in sectoral fashion), ignore urban as a single unit, lack integration ofurban system, and overlap/mismatch urban governance. Three things are urgent towards lowcarbon cities: (1) better integration of urban system- infrastructure and activities (2) technologicaladvancements to improve efficiency and effectiveness, and (2) behavioral shift to make rational
choices and lifestyle changes in cities. It is important to note that the first and second arenecessary but, for deep-cuts, utterly not sufficient without the third.
Limitation of current debate
Individual behavior of urban dwellers matters for carbon emissions through energy saving, lessmaterial consumption, choice of public transport over private transport, and how one choose tolive in their physical space (houses, offices etc) amongst others. However, there are several
limitations on current debate on behavioral change towards low carbon cities:- The vision of low carbon city in next 100 year is unclear – the acceptable and desirable formof low carbon city solely depend on our envisioned behavioral change- Existing discussions focus on incremental change; such conventional way is not sufficient- Behavioral change discussions are often technology dominated, price-tagged, top-down andlacks psychology, various attributes of personal choice associated with individuals’
irrationalities to the price signals- Behavior change process in cities will be non-linear with surprises; current discussions lackthe critical mass of change-agents needed and the tipping points for accelerated changes- Behavioral shift and levers for change has to be dramatically different in post-modernizednations, rapidly developing nations and less developed nations (generality vs. specificity)
Who to lead change?
Current debates on low carbon cities and urban carbon management are largely municipal
government-centric. Such municipal government-centric approach is necessary but not sufficientsince that capacity and relevance of municipal government to lead the required changes arelimited. Governments of multiple levels are key actors to induce behavioral changes in cities
through setting-up operational framework (educational, awareness, technology, economics andregulation). Businesses can play role in by shaping choices, providing alternatives and promoting
green businesses in cities. Citizen groups have role to play by campaigning to make rational
choices and creating awareness and media to educate and inform public and put politicalpressures to act. In essence, a multi-level governance of urban carbon is necessary based on local
circumstances and based on what wedges of influences are available to whom to make realisticchanges.