A low-carbon future? Individuals with high socioeconomic status in the UK show little willingness to change high-carbon lifestyles for climate change mitigation

Changing high-carbon lifestyles of individuals with high socioeconomic status (SES) is an important step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring social justice within climate mitigation. However, many high-carbon behaviours (such as frequent flying and car ownership) are also used to signal status within individuals’ social networks. Shifting consumption levels within high status individuals therefore may present a challenge, especially when individuals believe that engaging in high-carbon lifestyles is both normal and necessary. Here, we report the findings of a pre-registered online mixed-methods study in the UK (N = 511) that examined the associations of descriptive norms (i.e., perceptions of how often others engage in these behaviours) about high-carbon behaviours with policy support and with the likelihood to voluntarily reduce these behaviours for climate change mitigation. Contrary to our hypotheses, we found no meaningful association of descriptive norms with increased policy support, nor with decreased likelihood of voluntarily shifting behaviour. Participants showed high reluctance toward changing high-carbon behaviours through voluntary or policy action, but showed a slight preference for voluntary action that ran contrary to our initial predictions. This was mirrored within thematic analysis of our open-ended questions that revealed two main themes: (1) The desire for personal choice, which includes the option of not changing one’s behaviour, and (2) High-carbon lifestyles increase happiness. There was little awareness of the need to reduce personal greenhouse gas emissions to secure a liveable future. Overall, our findings show that individuals with high SES are unlikely to reduce lifestyle-related emissions, or support policy to this effect, when it requires them to make direct changes to high-carbon behaviours. To change high-carbon lifestyles of individuals with high SES, citizens should be supported in envisioning and creating pathways for sufficiency-focused lower-carbon lifestyles that can be desirable and fulfilling.