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Tackling inequality is essential for behaviour change for net zero

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Policies and psychological approaches often overemphasize individual agency, overlooking how socioeconomic inequality can constrain access to low-carbon alternatives. We argue that tackling these inequalities is urgent for impactful, equitable behaviour change.

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Fig. 1: Inequalities hinder a just transition to net zero and constrain who can feasibly adopt additional low-carbon behaviours.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Nielsen, M. Farley and A. Balmford for their feedback on this manuscript. C.A.K. was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, grant number P500PS_210825. E.E.G. was funded by the Wellcome Trust, Our Planet Our Health (Livestock, Environment and People—LEAP), grant number 205212/Z/16/Z.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Charlotte A. Kukowski

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Charlotte A. Kukowski

  3. Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Emma E. Garnett

Authors
  1. Charlotte A. Kukowski
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  2. Emma E. Garnett
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Correspondence to Charlotte A. Kukowski.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Kukowski, C.A., Garnett, E.E. Tackling inequality is essential for behaviour change for net zero. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 2–4 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01900-4

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