Pitch
What "POWERFUL TAMBOURINES" would compel the public to view green buildings as "Green Carrots"?
Description
Summary
The Carrots, Sticks and Tambourines approach has gained popularity in the 21st century, as an effective way to implement programs and policies. The "carrots" refer to incentives, "sticks" refer to coercion while "tambourines" is a relatively new concept that refers to awareness raising. This proposal focuses on the "tambourines" we could use to make the public view green buildings as "Green Carrots".
The 4Cs of Integrated Marketing Communication (derived from the traditional 4Ps of marketing) have been applied in various sectors by national agencies and international organizations, and can be applied to this proposal:
- “Consumer Need/Want/Desire”: reduced utility bills, health benefits for public
- “Cost”: Monetary, opportunity and effort costs to the public
- “Convenience”: availability of green buildings in mainstream property market
- “Communication”: publicizing green buildings as meeting public needs, at affordable “cost” and great “convenience”
Based on the above principles, we propose a solution package which is a combination of three phases, to Bring Home the Green Carrot:
- Phase 1: A Nationwide Survey for countries to first understand how the public perceives the “cost” and “convenience” of green buildings.
- Phase 2: Focus Group Discussions as part of a public consultation drive (subsequent to Phase 1), which is the most effective way to engage the hearts and minds of the public, increase awareness on green buildings and their benefits, and understand the barriers to public acceptance of green buildings.
- Phase 3: A National Green Building Public Communication Strategy and Policy Framework Review, to address the fourth C, "Communication", and also provide holistic support in the form of relevant policy revisions or development.
The above approaches would drive home the message that green buildings are in fact Green Carrots that the public should pursue, given that green buildings are "green" both environmentally and financially.
Category of the action
Mitigation/Adaptation, Changing public attitudes about climate change
What actions do you propose?
We propose to first conduct a nationwide survey on the current awareness levels of the public regarding green buildings, using a multiple choice/ Q&A format, followed by a face-to-face focus group discussion, and an intensive review of existing initiatives, policies and framework based on the results outcome. MIT has previously adopted similar method to understand the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies Program (CCSTP) in October 2003 and the method has reached some tangible outcomes such as identifying the gaps of public understanding and the ideas about the attitudes towards the subject. It was reported that the survey results could provide information to policy makers and decision makers who face difficult choices due to the complexities of the decision-making processes.
PHASE 1: Nationwide Survey
Target Group: General Public
The questionnaire would need to be designed to meet the following purposes:
- Understand public perception on green buildings
- Provide information to public on the key benefits of green buildings
- Understand public expectation on green buildings
- Identify the most effective communication channels/ platforms
- Identify improvements to policies and legislation that support people, public, private partnership
- Identify the areas of improvement on green building designs/ technologies
The survey could be designed to reach out to the public through multiple channels such as online platforms and traditional mailing approaches to ensure high return rates. This could be enhanced with innovative approaches e.g. using friendly mascots, celebrities as spokespersons and free collateral to encourage participation. With these active and innovative approaches, the survey would also serve as an awareness raising tool to initiate the public engagement process.
PHASE 2: Focus Group Discussions
Target Group: Potential building owners (Age Group: 25 - 45 years); building developers, green building council and government authorities.
The survey results would also form the basis for face-to-face focus group discussions spearheaded by relevant government authorities/ green building council (GBC), targeting members of the public from diverse communities and income groups. The focus groups could also include industry experts and academia to close the 3P (People-Private-Public) loop. These discussions would serve as an interactive platform for the public:
- to voice their concerns or any barriers they may face to investing in green buildings,
- to interact with other green building stakeholders to understand the long term financial and health benefits of green buildings, and
- to empower the public to enter the conversation of how buildings are designed and created for them (which meets the ultimate goal of this contest).
PHASE 3: National Green Building Public Communication Strategy and Policy Framework Review
Public Communication Strategy
Equipped with the results of the national survey and focus group discussions, countries would be able to correctly identify gaps in engaging the public in the green building conversation so far and any barriers to public acceptance of green buildings. Based on this, countries could also choose the most effective channels and platforms of communication to engage the public better in green building initiatives, and thus develop a national public communication strategy on green buildings. This could involve a combination of media platforms such as social media, television, print, billboards etc. to highlight the benefits of green buildings such as reduced utility bills and improved health benefits.
So far, the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Communication for Behavioral Impact (COMBI) is one of the most established public communication plans which has obtained successful results in health-concerning and life-threatening subjects such as malaria control and dengue outreach programs. Though this approach has not been explored in other areas, it would be worthwhile to be adopted or piloted in the green building initiative. The principle of the approach is to encourage behavior adoption without coercion, by applying solid tools and techniques based on a keen understanding of the principles of behavior adoption.
WHO has taken the behavior adoption approach by the simple HICDARM model, based on traditional behavior adoption theory and practice. According to the approach, HICDARM is a process by which we accept a new behavior through a series of self-convincing processes with external support, as listed below:
- First: We Hear about the new behavior; we become Informed about it;
- Second: We are Convinced that it is worthwhile. In time, we make the Decision to do something about our conviction.
- Third: we take Action on the new behavior. We await next Re-confirmation that our action was a good one
- Fourth: If all is well, we Maintain the behavior.
Policy Framework Review
The results could also be used to improve the existing government policy and framework. The relevant authority could study the policy gaps, national green building framework and identify ways to enhance the 3P partnership in the green building movement. The outcomes could range from targeted incentive schemes, providing affordable green buildings to low-income groups, and revisions to existing green building standards, to road-maps for local legislation on minimum green building standards. Such enhancements would serve to raise the standard of green buildings and meet public expectations (Greening the Carrot further), which would directly create public demand for green buildings. Coupled with the public communication plan, it would intensify the effect of outreach as well as enhance the effectiveness of the policy framework.
Who will take these actions?
Relevant government authorities promoting green buildings (e.g. Ministry of Construction) would conduct the national surveys, and engage other stakeholders such as GBCs, NGOs, industry and members of the general public in the subsequent focus group discussions.
We propose that the national communication strategy should be developed and implemented in close consultation with real estate developers as they interact the most with the public as potential buyers of the projects being developed.
Where will these actions be taken?
These actions could be adopted by countries across the world. The different phases would be developed based on a country's existing policies/ framework and outreach programs/ initiatives to engage the public.
How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?
This proposal focuses on creating public demand through a holistic approach that couples the national public communication plan and a well-planned and thoughtful policy and framework. As the proposal has adopted a nationwide approach, it would contribute to meeting the national emission reduction targets in countries that implement this proposal. This approach would achieve significant emission reductions in the top twenty emitters (e.g. China, USA, European Union, Brazil, Indonesia and India), which account for more than 80% of global GHG emissions.
According to the UNEP-SBCI report, the building sector contributes up to 30% of global annual green house gas emissions, and therefore this proposal has the potential for emission reductions on a large scale (up to 24% of global GHG emissions i.e. 30% x 80%) if implemented by the top twenty emitters.
What are other key benefits?
The implementation of our proposal has the potential to switch public perception and increase public demand for green buildings across various income segments, which would in turn yield multiple benefits such as:
- Lowering the cost of current green building technologies corresponding to the increased demand
- Creating a pro-legislative environment to set minimum standards for environmental sustainability and make obsolete inefficient/ unsustainable technologies/ practices
- Giving the public the twin benefits of improved health and reduced costs
- Resource conservation
- Green job creation and GDP growth
What are the proposal’s costs?
The estimated cost of Phase 1 and Phase 2 would be about US$2 per capita assuming Phase 1 is completed using the mass mailing approach with some free collateral to encourage higher participation rates. Additional cost would be incurred if online platforms/ mascots/ celebrity spokespersons/ green building ambassadors are used to increase public participation.
Going through these phases would serve as a fundamental cost-benefit analysis for implementers. Based on the findings of Phases 1 & 2, the respective agency could decide on the most cost effective approaches/ strategies to be adopted in the national public communication plan and policies.
Time line
Phases 1 & 2: 2 years
Phase 3: 5 years
Related proposals
References
WHO's Communication for behavioural Impact (COMBI)
4 Cs of Marketing – The Marketing Mix
IPCC Fifth Assessment Report 2013
UNEP-SBCI: Buildings and Climate Change - Summary for Decision-Makers
By:
