Sustaining pro-social and environmental behaviours beyond Covid-19

Covid-19 has triggered a global economic shutdown, leading to unintended reductions in carbon emissions and other pollutants as a result of decreased travel and consumption. Although a global pandemic that has caused close to 400,000 deaths at time of writing and debilitated the world economy should not be heralded as the way to secure pollution reductions, it does however present a unique opportunity to assess our current economic trajectory, and to identify the potential to shift direction onto a more sustainable pathway. This project seeks to address this opportunity by identifying which current pro-environmental and pro-social behaviours can be sustained beyond the lifetime of the pandemic, and the mechanisms and/or policy decisions that would support these longer-term changes. Preferences for shifting to green (low-carbon) and equitable post-Covid-19 pathways will be identified via repeat online surveys with a representative panel of UK residents, and timed to coincide with major shifts in policy or evolution of the Covid-19 virus. This research will be used to inform policy makers about the optimal mix of behaviours and supporting policy mechanisms needed to shift trajectory onto a sustainable pathway beyond the lifetime of the pandemic.