Net zero behaviours in the recovery from COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about extraordinarily rapid changes in individuals’ behaviours. Lockdown restrictions designed to contain the spread of the virus had a knock-on impact on our daily movements and behaviours relevant to Scotland’s net zero target. This study explorer the experience of behaviours with a positive or negative impact on net zero. It followed a cohort of people in Scotland through different phases of COVID-19 restrictions from July 2020 to June 2021. The aim of the research was to provide an in-depth understanding of the contextual factors influencing behaviour change, including how those changes are experienced and whether the changes ‘stick’. It finds that the disruption brought about by COVID-19 restrictions led to changes across the full range of net zero behaviours. The findings underscore the importance of creating an ‘enabling environment’ for net zero lifestyles in the recovery from COVID-19 that will help individuals to sustain the positive net zero behaviours that they have adopted during the pandemic.