Implementing the Behavioral Wedge: Designing and Adopting Effective Carbon Emissions Reduction Programs

摘要

The limited progress of the recent Copenhagen climate negotiations and domestic legislative activity suggests that the time is ripe to identify additional politically viable, low-cost, nonintrusive strategies to reduce carbon emissions. Laws and policies that induce changes in household technology use and adoption are one such strategy. This "behavioral wedge" strategy can be pursued in the near term. The resulting emissions reductions will buy time for a stron-. ger public consensus to emerge on the need for more costly carbon mitigation measures and will complement the additional measures after they are adopted. In short, the case for the behavioral wedge is compelling.