The effect of BeChange


THE EFFECT OF BECHANGE 



BECHANGE - SUPPORTING CLIMATE ACTION AND LASTING BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE


BeChange is a method that uniquely combines practical and mental training in a complete solution that helps people lead more sustainable lives and reduce their emissions. BeChange supports participants to achieve lasting behavioural change by focusing on increased well-being. Participants from previous courses have nearly halved their emissions while maintaining, or most often increasing, their quality of life.


The problem we aim to address


The climate crisis gets worse the more we emit until we reach net zero emissions.


Today, there is a big gap between what people WANT and what people DO to act more sustainably, in Sweden as well as globally (77% of swedes want to do more than they manage to). Meanwhile, mental health issues such as low hope and anxiety is increasing due to non-action, particularly among younger people (close to 50% of swedes have experienced it).


By not properly empowering people to act, we oversee a trapped value which can help increase wellbeing already today while speeding up the needed change toward net zero emissions.


RESULTS 


BeChange has so far run 4 public programs in collaboration with municipalities and regions. The public courses were run in 3 cities (Luleå, Eskilstuna and Stockholm) with a total of 170 participants, running for 3,5 months each (except for the first 2 Pilot Programs that ran for 9 and 7 months).


Results below are based on these courses.


  • During these programs, participants reduced their carbon emissions by 47% on average, equalling 3,6 tonne CO2 per person/year. 
  • The area where the participants had their biggest CO2 reductions is in transportation (car, bus, train, flights etc).

  • Participants experienced an overall higher quality of life. (78% reported higher quality of life, while the remaining 22% reported maintained quality of life)
  • Participants experienced an increased sense of hopefulness, and reduced levels of climate anxiety.
  • Participants experienced an increased sense of "walk the talk"-  living a life aligned to their own values.


See graphs. 


Additional climate benefits

  • Additonal benefits from the BeChange program is created by the "ripple effect" - during the program, participants reported that their children, spouses, friends and collegues were inspired to make similar climate friendly changes too.  And when it comes to society's next generation, children still living at home, they learned and were inspired by ideas such as green electricity and holidays and are likely to incorporated them into their lives in the future.


  • Further, unexpected benefits arise from the spontaneous actions of participants after the program - some have been charged and inspired, and have channeled this into new climate initiatives of their own in a way that they never dared to before the BeChange program.  For example, some of our participants have gone on to facilitate climate change days (both local and national), changed their work roles to ones that are more in line with their purpose, started political engagement, art/photo awareness exhibitions, creating climate circle discussion groups etc. 


  • BeChange shows that with the right support, it is possible (even easy) for motivated individuals with a high-carbon lifestyle to halve their carbon emissions in only four months while increasing their sense of quality of life. 


Consistent results


  • The results in the 4 different groups are consistent (see graph "Carbon reduction levels per program"), thus meaningful conclusions can be drawn from this data. And in the Luleå program (the only one that has been over a year since they finnished the course) participants CO₂ reductions remained even a year after the program ended.


These BeChange programs have been executed in partnership with Studiefrämjandet Norrbotten, Studiefrämjandet Eskilstuna, Studiefrämjandet Stockholm and the councils of Luleå, Eskilstuna, Stockholm, Tyresö, Järfälla and Huddinge and Klimatklivet. 



METHODOLOGY


Selection of participants


  • The participants found out about the BeChange program primarily through Facebook but also via media coverage and word of mouth. All participants joining the program had a longing to live more climate friendly lives and thus were motivated to make changes. By global standards they had a high-carbon lifestyle when entering the project (On average they emitted 7,6 tonne carbon emissions/year per participant). 


Measurements used


  • The following measurements and measuring tools were used during the programs:


    1. CO₂ emission levels:  the tool for calculating and measuring real changes in CO₂ weight per year was the web based tool Klimatkontot (www.klimatkontot.se) provided by IVL -Svenska Miljöinstitutet.
    2. Mental measurement -  levels of climate anxiety and sense of hope about the world's environmental challenges. Mental changes were measured using a self assessment tool developed for the BeChange project by Ann Murugan (Earth), as no standardised tool existed. 
    3. Mental measurements - experienced quality of life. Quality of life was measured by BeChange own survey as well as by the validated survey” Brunnsviken Brief Quality of Life scale” by Karolinska University. 


Measures were made at the start of the program (baseline values) and at the end of the program, and also one year after the program ended (only the Luleå program has done this so far as it is the only program where sufficient time has passed).


The baseline values were taken as points of departure in the work with the participants’ "Carbon Reduction Goals", "Climate Psychology Goals" and "Quality Of Life Goals".  



Practical coaching on how to shift to low emission lifestyle 


  • The participants received practical coaching on how they could transition to a low CO₂ emitting lifestyle while keeping or enhancing their overall quality of life. BeChange focuses on the 3 largest emission sources from Swedish peoples' everyday lives - ”transportation, food and housing” (Swedish EPA, 2018).


  • During the program, participants were encouraged to prioritise their focus in the following order:


    1. Easily implementable solutions that resulted in major reductions of CO₂ emissions.
    2. Easily implementable solutions that resulted in minor reductions of CO₂ emissions.
    3. Solutions that were less simple to implement, but had had major impact on CO₂ emissions.


As a result, the focus areas for the participants were typically to shift to more low-emission transportation, more plant-based diets, and to switch to renewable energy for their homes. Outside of BeChange’s main focus areas (transportation, food and housing) the participants also chose to reduce wasteful consumption.


Climate psycology tools


  • Climate psychology tools were added to support the participants to perform at their peak and reach their goals. These tools also aimed to free the participants from climate anxiety and increased their sense of hopefulness around environmental challenges, thereby contributing to increased mental satisfaction and quality of life.


Mode of Collaboration


  • The program mixed theoretical lectures and group coaching sessions with hands on real life implementation and trying out new solutions and habits at home.
  • The program allows time for participants to share their thoughts and feelings around progress and setbacks with other participants, and to spread knowledge and tips with each other. 



CONCLUSION


BeChange's innovative program is a powerful tool that almost HALVES individual carbon emissions in 4 months. It is extremely effective, easy and enjoyable to follow, uniquely combining practical AND mental training in a complete solution that helps people live more sustainable lives and reduce their emissions. 


By providing individuals with the support they need in order to create the climate friendly lifestyle they want, halving their carbon emissions is easy and fast with zero negative impacts on their quality of life.  In fact, it actually has the opposite effect - the BeChange program has a large positive impact on peoples' quality of life, and this is probably the key reason why the changes and their new climate friendly lifestyle persists long after the program has finished. 


The BeChange program allows motivated individuals to halve their emissions and yet have a higher quality of life, which is why we have noticed that participants remain engaged and motivated outside the scope of the program and long after it has finished. These are good indicators for BeChange to have a powerful exponential effect. 


In order to reach the global goal of halving carbon emissions by 2030, individuals need the right support and tools in order to make the changes quickly but also in a long lasting way that avoids a reappearance of the problem. The BeChange program provides this support and tools successfully.

Our excellent results were highlighted in the report Exponential Climat Action Roadmap that was presented at the Global Climate Action Summmit 2018.


BeChange has recently created a digital solution which enables us to scale the reach of this methodology.

BeChange - areas of carbon reduction based on private individuals
Cardon reduction during BeChange program Sweden innovation CarbonReduction HappinessProduction