Rapid decarbonisation of cities by addressing behavioural failures? A critical review of policy interventions

While many of the interventions to reduce carbon emissions target market failures, little attention is given to behavioural failures. This study investigates to what degree cities, which have taken a central role in global decarbonisation efforts, already incorporate findings from behavioural economics in their policy interventions. The ‘traditional taxonomy’ for policy intervention, represented among others in the work of the IPCC, is taken as a benchmark for assessing city’s decarbonisation interventions in the areas of building energy efficiency and transportation. Based on an extensive literature review and empirical data of urban climate networks, the study finds that market failures in adopting low-carbon technologies largely dominate the framing of policy interventions. Based on few examples of non-traditional interventions addressing behavioural failures, an alternative taxonomy to frame decarbonisation policy is discussed.