Dr. Jeanne Moore:

It is great to have the opportunity to clarify some of the members' points and to acknowledge the role of a culture change and a paradigm shift, which members mentioned, in regard to behavioural change but also in regard to the social acceptance of renewable energies. In regard to the latter, we believe that could be a significant issue for the future transition to a carbon neutral society. We have a background paper on some of the social and behavioural aspects of climate change and in that, we examine some of the current thinking. An important point, which Deputy Mulherin mentioned, is that the process and type of engagement with communities is key to increasing social acceptance.

To further develop this work, NESC has started a project which will look at the processes to design and deliver energy transformation in Ireland. As part of that, we will look comparatively at Denmark, Scotland and Germany to see what types of governance were in place, what types of social acceptance issues they had to cope with, and what types of community ownership models and community engagement models we can draw from and develop some insights for Ireland. We will develop that work this year.

On the broader point in regard to a cultural change, the key point for us is that raising awareness is an important part of societal engagement but while that is important, it does not ensure behavioural change. Behavioural change is changing the way we do things and that is quite a complex thing to achieve, but we know how to do it. We have changed the way people recycle and the way people reuse plastic bags when they shop but changing the way we do things requires particular pro-environmental practices to become routine. We develop new habits and practices so that they become everyday in society and it becomes a societal project.

Education is something members have been thinking about a lot.

One excellent example is the Green Schools programme, an environmental education and management system run by An Taisce, which has resulted in savings of nearly €9 million in recent years in terms of waste, electricity and water costs. In the last 15 years, over 2,500 schools have been awarded the green flag after an average of two years of consistent effort. We find this particularly interesting for a number of reasons. First, it is running in most Irish schools and has a strong educational and awareness-raising role for families as well as the children participating in the schools; second, it is reducing emissions through energy savings and through other areas of good sustainability practice; third, it does this through bottom-up innovation at school level, through regular evaluation and supports from the programme; and finally, the schools use their resources more effectively, thereby providing tangible cost savings. The Green-Schools programme provides a strong example of how to combine "how-much" with "how-to". It provides targets for energy savings along with innovative ideas for schools on how to reach those targets. We find that this initiative and others from the SEAI, involving communities and local authorities as well as private and public organisations, allow us to tell the story of how to enable behaviour change, which is what we need in order to get the societal buy-in that we so want.