Climate change & sustainability resources
A selection of resources using behavioural science to help tackle the pressing issues to protect our planet.
Spotlight: A System Issue: Interdependence for Health
Professor Vera Araújo Soares’ (Heidelberg University) keynote from our 2025 Behaviour Change Conference. Catch up on YouTube:
Dr Ayse Allison was a guest on the UCL Health in a Handbasket podcast, talking about how we can reduce waste with absorbent hygiene products. Listen on Spotify. (March 2025)
Prof Susan Michie was a panelist at the UCL Love Your Planet Event. Watch the recording on YouTube. (February 2025)
Dr Jo Davan Wetton (Hale) gave a presentation to Psychologists for Environmental Action at Durham University, introducing the COM-B model and illustrating how it was used in two recent studies to understand influences on repairing and repurposing clothes, and active travel in London. Watch the recording on the PEAs Psychology YouTube channel (March 2022).
We submitted evidence to the Environment and Climate Change Committee exploring behaviour change in the context of climate change (mitigation and adaptation) and the environment. View the full submission. (2022).
We spoke to six experts from different backgrounds who work in sustainable behaviour change. Read the interviews on this page of our website (2019-2021)
Dr Jo Davan Wetton (Hale) took part in this lunch hour lecture on assessing the carbon footprint of fashion and ways to extend the lifetime of our clothes. Watch the recording on the UCL YouTube channel (November 2021).
Voices across the political spectrum and from a range of leading UK universities come together in this unique collection of essays coordinated by think tank Policy Connect and the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group. Following the foreword by Caroline Lucas MP, CBC's Dr Jo Davan Wetton (Hale) introduces the collection, asking: What have we committed to? Where are we on the journey to achieving net zero? What are the challenges? How can we rise to the challenge? Read the essay collection on the Policy Connect website. (September 2021)
Dr Jo Davan Wetton (Hale) spoke on the Naked Scientists podcast about behaviour change for saving water, textiles and energy. Listen on the Naked Scientists website, see 43:47 'Making greener choices' (April 2021).
Many people reported anecdotally that their green behaviours lapsed during lockdowns. In this HuffPost article, Dr Jo Davan Wetton (Hale) spoke about how the picture might be more complicated, pointing changes in people's capability, opportunity and motivation for different green behaviours. Read the HuffPost article (April 2021).
Cynthia Ko is a UCL MSc Behaviour Change alumni who explored the behavioural implications of sustainable service design in the fashion industry during her thesis. Watch the webinar on the CBC YouTube channel (May 2021).
Danielle Purkiss is a Research Fellow at the UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub. Watch the webinar on the CBC YouTube channel (Jan 2021).
Prof Susan Michie chaired a panel discussion on 'Behaviour: The Climate & Sustainability Crises' for the UCL conference, 'Beyond Boundaries: Realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals'. Senior Research Fellow Dr Jo Hale was one of the panelists. Catch up with the session on YouTube. (October 2020).
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