Individual Factors for the Use of Environmentally Friendly Means of Transport

• In Event: Green Politics around the World

Abstract

In the post-pandemic world, the challenge of mitigating climate change will regain and increase attention. With the aim of reducing CO2 emissions and fostering sustainability to combat climate change, governments frequently foresee energy and mobility transitions, including the objective to make individuals switch from combustion engine vehicles to electric cars, or – even better – to public transport or the bicycle. However, these transitions are advancing slowly, which is why in this paper we seek to identify the individual drivers and barriers of mobility transition.
Environmentally oriented transport policy can only achieve the desired results of more sustainable mobility if individual mobility behavior changes. Consequently, a transport policy strategy geared towards environmental protection must recognize and address the obstacles that exist at the individual level. However, the interrelationships of personal transport behavior are complex and multifactorial. One of the greatest challenges is that the relevant behavioral variable – the choice of a certain means of transport – is a long-term decision, in contrast to, for example, the purchase decision for groceries, the change of which is associated with high switching costs. Partly because of this strong path dependency, a change in behavior is only likely if various factors interact. In addition to attitudes, values and personality traits, these factors include rational cost-benefit trade-offs and the influence of social networks and group memberships.
This paper integrates the factors potentially influencing mobility behavior in a holistic model and empirically tests its hypotheses through the analysis of German and European datasets. These data contain individual-level data on mobility behavior, preferences, motivations, and values. By systematically analyzing the relations between the choice of a mode of transport and the reasons and motivations with which individuals justify it, we reveal substantial contradictions that question the assumed mechanisms leading to sustainable mobility. Our results show that it is not only rational cost-benefit evaluations that guide the choice of the mode of transport – even if individuals often argue this way – but that the mechanisms are complex and currently insufficiently addressed by public policy, which potentially hampers the successful transition to sustainable transport.

Authors

• Johanna Hornung, University of Bern

• Nils C. Bandelow, TU Braunschweig