Titel:

iReliefs. (Indirect Rebound Effects. Lifestyle-segmentation and Interventions with Efficiency-Feedback and Sufficiency)

Funding Institution:

Federal Ministry of Education and Research - Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF).

Project Team and Partners:

Prof. Dr. Stefan Hoffmann (Marketing Department, Kiel University), Prof. Dr. Katrin Rehdanz (Institute for Environmental, Resource and Spatial Economics, Kiel University), Prof. Dr. Ingo Balderjahn (Marketing Department, University of Potsdam), Prof. Dr. Bernhard Gill (Department of Sociology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) Project member at the Marketing Department of Kiel University: Hanna Reimers, Dr. Wassili Lasarov

Duration:

2018 bis 2021

Short Description:

The social-ecological transformation towards the so-called "Ressource Light Green Economy" is significantly inhibited, because an increase of ressource and energy efficiency through technical innovations leads oftentimes to rebound effects. While previous research mainly focused on direct rebound effects and on the question of energy efficiency on macro level general product group indirect rebound effects on private household level and the associated psychological mechanisms are not  sufficiently analyzed yet and sufficiency contingent rebounds is mostly neglected. Therefore, the transdiciplinary project together with practice partners from the area of electronic mobility, sustainable textiles and market research along with non-government organisations set up the following goals: (1) A fundamental methodological contribution for the quanitification of indirect rebound effects on the basis of carbon footprints along with the connected income and substitution effects on private household levels in Germany will be developed. In longitudinal analyses (household panel data) these effects will be substracted from a dynamic household related shopping basket analysis. In cross-sectional studies the indirect rebounds will be measured through the differentiation of food and through cross-comparison of product groups. (2) The project will make a conceptional contribution by not only including chosen product categories, but also specific life and consumption styles into the rebound analysis. By that, not only efficiency-oriented rebound effects, but also rebounds of sufficient consumption styles can be examined and quantified. (3) The project contributes to the theoretical understanding of indirect rebounds by examining also social and moralpsychological (e. g. Moral Licensing) effect mechanisms next to pecuniary behavior motives. For tracking indirect rebounds, these motives will be estimated and validated through the developed application Eco2log. Eco2log will inform consumers dynamically about their own carbon footprint and evaluate the achieved rebound reduction. (4) The project will provide application-oriented evidence by identifiying activities for the avoidance and reduction of sufficiency and efficiency related indirect rebounds and by evaluating these within intervention studies. (5) Implications for political decision-makers will be derived. The project will point out which information is needed by the consumers and will forecast how selected behavior controlling activities (e. g. economic incentives, Nudging, consumer information) affect the reduction of indirect rebounds on private household level.

Click here to visit the project webpage.

Media:

CO2 statt Kalorien zählen, unizeit, Nr. 96, 20.10.2018, S. 2

Paper:

Hoffmann, S., Lasarov, W., & Reimers, H. (2022). Carbon Footprint Tracking Apps. What Drives Consumers' Adoption Intention? Technology in Society, 69, 101956.

Reimers, H., Lasarov, W., & Hoffmann, S. (2022). Moral-Psychological Mechanisms of Rebound Effects from a Consumer-centered Perspective: A Conceptualization and Research Directions, Frontiers in Psychology, 13:886384.

Reimers, H., Jacksohn, A., Appenfeller, D., Lasarov, W., Hüttel, A., Rehdanz, K., Balderjahn, I., Hoffmann, S. (2021). Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung von Rebound-Effekten auf Konsument:innen und Haushaltsebene, MACAU. Link: https://macau.uni-kiel.de/receive/macau_mods_00002204

Reimers, H., Jackson, A., Appenfeller, D., Lasarov, W., Hüttel, A., Rehdanz, K., Balderjahn, I., & Hoffmann, S. (2021). Indirect Rebound Effects on the Consumer Level: A State-of-the-art Literature Review, Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, 3, 100032. Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666784321000267/pdfft?md5=b1f1771e16c627151f34682914d8d68a&pid=1-s2.0-S2666784321000267-main.pdf

Reimers, H., Lasarov, W., & Hoffmann, S. (2021). Rebound-Effekte – eine psychologische Erklärung. Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Studium, 49(12), 49-51.

Presentation:

Vernetzungskonferenz: Rebound-Effekte aus sozial-ökologischer Perspektive, 11.-12.09.2019