Leadership and climate change - the role of leading by example to promote low-carbon behaviour

我们经常听到呼吁“领导”解决气候危机。以大卫·阿滕伯勒在2018年联合国气候大会（COP 24）上的演讲为例，他说：“世界各国领导人，你们必须发挥领导作用。文明的延续和我们所依赖的自然世界掌握在你们手中。但“领导力”的确切含义--领导者实际上应该做什么--却很少被定义。我的研究集中在领导力的一个关键但研究不足的方面：以身作则，低碳行为。如果政治家、名人和商界领袖通过减少飞行、减少吃肉、提高家庭效率和驾驶电动汽车来明显改变自己的生活方式，会发生什么？其他国家会效仿他们吗？这将发出什么信号，表明他们对应对气候变化的承诺？这些都是我的研究试图回答的问题。ERSC奖学金将使我能够发展研究并将其带给广大受众，让领导者自己了解他们的行为选择如何影响他人，并向公众提供关于他们应该对气候领导者抱有什么期望的新信息。我与公众进行了焦点小组讨论，发现他们普遍认可“言行一致”的领导人。但他们在审查领导人的行为和动机时也是无情的。我还采访了英国国会议员，因为他们是领导者，他们对影响每个人的气候变化做出决定。议员们表示，原则上他们希望以身作则，但实际上很难做到，因为这可能看起来像是“美德信号”，他们的选民可能不喜欢。为了检验这些初步结果，我对1,300名参与者进行了一项实验。其中一半人的领导者已经改变了他们自己的生活方式，成为低碳人。而另一半人则面对一位尚未改变生活方式的领导者。两位领导人都强烈支持解决气候变化问题，但实际行动的领导人被认为更可信，更可爱，更值得信赖，更有效。至关重要的是，那些被介绍给说话的领导者的人说，他们更愿意改变自己的生活方式，包括低碳行为。这表明，以身作则会鼓励他人效仿--这是一个可能对迅速改变低碳行为至关重要的发现。我的另一项研究支持了这一点。我对那些因为气候变化而承诺停止飞行一年的人进行了调查。他们中的大多数人说，他们是受到其他已经停止飞行的人的影响而停止飞行的，例如朋友或家人。但如果对方是名人或政治家等知名人士，这种影响会更强。毫不奇怪，许多人说他们受到了Greta Thunberg的影响。我的研究表明，领导者通过帮助改变被认为是正常的行为--即所谓的“社会规范”--来影响他人、引导社会走向更可持续的生活方式的力量。ESRC奖学金将帮助我发表这些发现，并把它们带给广大的观众。人们已经对这个话题非常感兴趣，正如关于个人是否应该对气候采取行动或等待“系统变化”的激烈辩论所表明的那样。我等不及要开始了！

We often hear calls for "leadership" to address the climate crisis. Take David Attenborough's speech at the 2018 UN climate conference (COP24) where he said: "Leaders of the world, you must lead. The continuation of civilisations and the natural world upon which we depend is in your hands." But the precise meaning of "leadership" - what leaders should actually do - is rarely defined. My research focusses on one crucial but under-researched aspect of leadership: leading by example with low-carbon behaviour. What would happen if politicians, celebrities and business leaders made visible changes to their own lifestyles by flying less, eating less meat, improving the efficiency of their homes, and driving electric cars. Would others follow their example, and what signals would it send about their commitment to tackling climate change? These are the questions my research seeks to answer. The ERSC fellowship will allow me to develop the research and take it to a wide audience, informing leaders themselves about how their behavioural choices may influence others, and giving the public new information about what they should expect from climate leaders.My PhD research has already produced some fascinating insights. I conducted focus groups with members of the public and found that they generally approve of leaders who "walk the talk". But they are also ruthless in their scrutiny of leaders' actions and motives. I also interviewed UK Members of Parliament, because they are the leaders who make decisions about climate change that affect everyone. The MPs said they wanted to lead by example in principle, but said it was difficult in practice because it might look like "virtue signalling", and their voters might not like it. To test these initial results, I conducted an experiment with 1,300 participants. Half of them were presented with a leader who had changed their own lifestyle to be low-carbon. The other half were presented with a leader who had not yet changed their lifestyle. Both leaders were strongly in favour of tackling climate change, but the leader who walked the talk was viewed as much more credible, more likeable, more trustworthy, and more effective. Crucially, people who were presented with the walking-the-talk leader said they were more willing to change their own lifestyles to include low-carbon behaviours. This shows that leading by example encourages others to follow suit - a potentially crucial discovery for bringing about rapid low-carbon behaviour change.Another strand of my research backs this up. I conducted a survey of people who had signed a pledge to stop flying for a year because of climate change. Most of them said they had been influenced to stop flying by someone else who had already stopped, for instance a friend or family member. But the effects were stronger if the other person was a high-profile figure such as a celebrity or a politician. Not surprisingly, many people said they had been influenced by Greta Thunberg. My research shows the power of leaders to influence others and steer society to more sustainable lifestyles by helping to change what is considered normal behaviour - known as "social norms". The ESRC fellowship will help me to publish these findings and take them to a wide audience. People are already very interested in the topic, as shown by the fierce ongoing debates about whether individuals should act on climate or wait for "systems change". I can't wait to get started!