Extract from the executive summary:

In June 2019, Auckland Council declared a climate emergency, signalling the council’s continued commitment to investing in a sustainable, resilient Auckland. Auckland Council’s Low Carbon Living (LCL) team leads the work on reducing household carbon emissions in Auckland. They have asked council’s Research and Evaluation Unit (RIMU) to undertake a literature review of the way behavioural insights have been used to reduce residential energy use, to summarise lessons learnt and to provide recommendations for service delivery.

As part of this work, academic articles have been reviewed covering primary research, literature reviews, meta-analyses and summaries. Almost all of the reviewed articles describe empirical work conducted overseas, mostly in the United States and Europe. This literature describes a number of behavioural insights (BI) that have been tested for effectiveness in improving residential energy behaviours. ...

Auckland Council technical report, TR2020/015

August 2020