Choices for climate action: A review of the multiple roles individuals play

Tackling climate change requires significant behavior change to reduce emissions, yet the scale required is far from being achieved. Behaviors are influenced by psychological characteristics, social and cultural norms, material and spatial environments, and political conventions. Much social scientific debate continues to be characterized by calls for either individual or system change, but a more cross-cutting perspective to understand various factors that can enable and accelerate pro-environmental choices is needed. This review provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of evidence on the potential and limitations of individual choice to mitigate climate change. We identify six domains of individual choice for climate action (food, energy, transport, shopping, influence, and citizenship). We find that individual, social, physical, and political factors combine to shape low-carbon choices but in ways specific to each domain, demanding different responses from policy-makers. Effective climate action requires a mix of interventions which address the multiple roles played by individuals: structural change by governments (“upstream” interventions), businesses and local authorities making sustainable options more available and attractive (“midstream”), and informational measures to shape individuals’ decision-making (“downstream”).