Going the Last Mile: Behavioural Science and Investments in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

This paper makes the case for behavioural science analysis and interventions in project design. Current approaches to behaviour change in the GCF portfolio are likely to ignore several psychological barriers. We base our analysis and recommendations on both portfolio-level data as well as case studies of 11 purposively-chosen projects from a random sample of 20 projects in the GCF portfolio.

This is a revised and extended version of the paper presented to the Climate2020 online Conference.

Authorship Cornelius Krüger, Jyotsna Puri (Jo)

Cover date November 2020

Document type Learning paper

Evaluation Independent evaluation of the adaptation portfolio and approach of the Green Climate Fund (Adapt2021)

Table of contents

A. Introduction

B. Psychology of climate (in-)action

C. Elements of behaviour change in the GCF portfolio

D. Application of behavioural science to GCF projects

E. Results of the case studies

F. Where do behavioural interventions fit best?

G. Practical steps for incorporating behavioural science interventions into designs of climate investments

H. Conclusion