Literature Review The environment is currently being threatened by global warming, air pollution, water shortages, habitat loss, and biodiversity loss, among other issues. Many of these problems are caused by humans (Vlek and Steg, 2007; Rosenzweig et al., 2008) and it is believed that technological innovations alone will not solve these issues (Midden et al., 2007). In order to decrease the impact that humans are having on the environment, a dramatic shift in behaviours and habits are needed (Howard, 2000; Oskamp, 2000). In fact, studies in the US have shown that changes in individual’s behaviour could reduce 20% of household level carbon emissions in ten years (Dietz et al., 2009). This is more than would be expected if all emissions from some of the largest emitters in the US industrial sector were reduced to zero (Dietz et al., 2009), making it clear that shift in habits away from inherently damaging and wasteful activities, towards those that are more environmental and conservation driven should be a goal of society (Osbaldiston and Sheldon, 2003). For this shift to occur, individuals must not only be motivated to perform more pro-environmental behaviours, which can be defined as behaviours that consciously work to minimize the negative impacts of one’s actions on the natural world (Kollmuss and Agyeman, 2002), they should also be motivated to integrate these behaviours in their lifestyle so that they are maintained over time. Motivation can come from a number of sources, and one that has popularly been used in attempting to shape pro-environmental behaviours is that of rewards or financial incentives. Carbon pricing, recycling deposits, plastic bag charges, and composting fines would all fit into this category, as would any other type of financial incentive. In the past few decades there have been increases in the use of pollution charges, tradable permits, emission reduction credits, emission taxes and cap-and-trade systems to regulate pollution emissions (Sovacool, 2015). This has
Lin and Li (2011) 0 There was no mention of motivation or individual behaviours in the analysis of the tax. Instead the success/failure of the system in terms of emissions was justified by how many sectors the tax exempted. Individual behaviours were also not included in the model used. None - the concept of motivation and behavioural change were not applied so neither theory was used. The Ministry of the Environment (1994) (Accessed through Anderson et al., 2000) 1 This paper focussed on how the carbon tax influenced industries to change fuels to those that were less carbon intensive. There was no mention of any of the key phrases or individual motivation, which contributed to the low motivation score. As well, it was quite evident that motivation did not play a major component in the final decision regarding the success of the carbon tax. None - the concept of motivation and behavioural change were not applied so neither theory was used. The Swedish EPA 1995 (Accessed through Anderson et al., 2000) 1 This paper conducted a number of interviews with companies in order to determine how the carbon tax influenced them. There was no mention of the key phrases and the only mention of individuals, stated that the household sector was insensitive to changes in carbon price. It was the lack of relevance that lead to a low motivation score as the paper was looking primarily at the industrial None - the concept of motivation and behavioural change were not applied so neither theory was used.
analysis. That being said the success/failure of the system in terms of emission was primarily justified by the level of tax exemptions granted to key sectors with behavioural changes only being a small factor. Larsen and Nesbakken (1997) 1.5 Household energy use was included in this study, stating that the carbon tax caused people to reduce their consumption of liquid fuels, as well as reduce household transport with private cars. These are clearly demonstrating shifts in individual behaviours but there was no mention of the key phrases in the analysis. This was also only a portion of the overall discussion, which justifies the low motivation score. None - as motivation was only loosely touched on and not the focus no theory was used in this analysis. ECON 1994 (Accessed through Anderson et al., 2000) 1 This was a study looking at the tax effect on companies, and it focussed on how the carbon tax encouraged companies to take on various measures in order to reduce the level of taxes they paid. That being said there was no mention of the key phrases and individual behavioural change was not examined. The fact that this was loosely discussing behavioural change at the industrial None - as motivation was only loosely touched on and not the focus no theory was used in this analysis.