EU 1.5° Lifestyles
About The Project
The IPCC concludes in their Special Report on Global Warming that limiting global temperature increase needs demand-side actions and lifestyle changes. Previous attempts to realise demand-side changes have been hampered by several factors such as limited quantitative data, lack of public awareness and acceptance, and lack of policy solutions that promote structural, systemic change.
We aim to address all three of these limitations by connecting an analysis of individual lifestyle perspectives, on household level, with policies and socio-economic structures, on all levels from international to local.
The analysis will be structured according to the emerging 1.5-degree lifestyles approach, which members of the consortium have helped to define. The advantage of a lifestyle-oriented approach is to link concrete transformations of lifestyle by individuals to transformations of the structural context by policies, economic, and societal institutions. This inclusive approach is original in terms of a research strategy. In practical terms, it is very promising as it offers concrete guidance and as it can be scaled to political, social, and economic capacities on regional to (supra-) national levels. We pursue our aims using quantitative and qualitative methods, country-level assessments and sector-based case studies, as well as innovative participatory formats and a broad range of communication methods.
Long-running scientific research on greenhouse gas emission projections, climate modelling, and assessments of climate change impacts on the earth and human society, show that limiting warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is our best chance to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis. Achieving the 1.5° target would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change, including ecosystems collapse, temperature extremes, heavy precipitation events, agricultural and ecological damages from droughts, and sea level rise.
The goal “to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius” was adopted by 196 governments in 2015 as part of the legally binding Paris Agreement. But meeting the target will require rapid and drastic reductions in GHG emissions and achieving net-zero emissions globally by the middle of the 21st century.
According to consumption-based emissions accounting, emissions in high-income countries will need to be reduced by more than 90% by 2050. The window for effective action is small and rapidly closing – if global emissions continue at the current level for the next decade, the chance of achieving the 1.5° target will be lost.
The project aims to achieve the following objectives:
- Quantify climate and health impacts of shifting lifestyles
- Qualitatively analyse low-carbon transformative strategies for households
- Analyse structural constraints and barriers to sustainable lifestyle changes
- Assess potential risks of lifestyle changes at the household level
- Assess the impact of lifestyle changes on economic and welfare systems
- Communicate and engage with actors to adopt transformative approaches to 1.5° Lifestyles
New IPCC Report is Clear: The Future is Ours to Make or Break
When the IPCC launched its assessment of the physical science of climate change in August 2021 it was called a “code red for humanity”. The
Citizens and Artists are Promoting 1.5° Lifestyles by Playing to Their Strengths
Around the world, citizens, artists and collective initiatives are increasingly bringing the need for sustainable lifestyles to the fore. Through the Future Lifestyles Multimedia Contest,
Why Do We Need 1.5° Lifestyles?
We know that our lifestyles have to change if we are to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis – and that means creating radical change in the structures that shape our lifestyles.
Project Partners
Our funders
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101003880.
