Research shows that lifestyle changes are key to decarbonisation strategies needed to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals. Yet many current climate models do not fully capture how behavioural changes interact with policy measures.
Our project’s research, along with the EU-funded CAMPAIGNERs, ECEMF, and PRISMA projects, has introduced methodological improvements to two major energy models- PRIMES-BuiMo and EDGE-Buildings – to better simulate the effects of household lifestyle shifts.
The findings indicate that these changes can significantly reduce household energy use and CO₂ emissions, while also lowering fuel costs, which may help prevent energy poverty. Simple measures, such as adjusting thermostats and reducing dwelling size, demonstrate strong potential for aiding ambitious climate targets. This work underlines the importance of policies that support lifestyle changes as part of the decarbonisation process.
Read the free open-access paper, “Evaluating the impact of lifestyle changes: a scenario-based analysis for Europe’s residential buildings sector” published this month.