LOCAW

Low Carbon at Work: Modelling agents and organisations to achieve transition to a low carbon Europe

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The project will provide a theoretically and empirically grounded analysis of everyday practices in the workplace, of the macro and micro-level processes which act as drivers for and constraints upon sustainable practices in different types of workplaces across different European countries, and the relationship between work and outside work practices.

These analyses will constitute the empirical basis for developing: agent-based models, which will provide a detailed account of barriers to and drivers for cooperation in transitioning to a low-carbon Europe; and back-casting scenarios, which will allow the mapping out of different pathways to a desirable, future low-carbon Europe. These results will be translated into detailed, articulated descriptions of how to encourage cooperative interaction to reach a sustainable Europe.

The project will focus on 6 European case studies of large-scale organizations operating under different national and international contexts and occupying different relevant positions in the sustainability debate (state and private). It will focus on three main categories of practices at work, responsible for the GHG emissions of each organization: consumption of materials and energy, generation of waste and waste management, and organization-related mobility. The project will follow a multi-method approach that will include both qualitative and quantitative methodologies (interviews, questionnaires, agent-based modelling etc.)

The findings will provide European policy makers with a more integrated understanding of how the workplace can become a crucial centre for engaging individuals, collectives (e.g., trade unions) and management in new sustainability practices, and with recommendations for context-sensitive policies that would enhance successful cooperation among agents in the transition to a low-carbon Europe.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

EU-funded researchers have completed a comprehensive review of various workplaces to understand what drives and constrains sustainable behaviour in the context of climate change.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Unsustainable production and consumption are the principle drivers of climate change in the modern age. Despite a growing awareness of the need for sustainable practices, unsustainable behaviours and trends continue unabated.

To address this, the 'Low carbon at work: Modelling agents and organisations to achieve transition to a low carbon Europe' (http://www.locaw-fp7.com (LOCAW)) project aimed to investigate the driving forces of and constraints upon sustainable practices in six large organisations. This information was used to test various ways to improve these practices.

The project researched current practices through questionnaires, observations and interviews. Researchers studied behaviours in and out of the workplace, focusing on consumption, waste and waste management, and organisation-related transport. Investigations took place at both employee and organisational level.

http://www.locaw-fp7.com/userfiles/Deliverables/Locaw%20Final-Report.pdf (Resulting data) was processed, analysed and incorporated into theoretical case studies for each organisation. These were used to model potential scenarios and policies that could lead to decreased greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The final outcomes of the LOCAW project were policy recommendations for the organisations involved. The recommendations could be adapted to almost any large organisation to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve their sustainability.