A multi-country meta-analysis on the role of behavioural change in reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions in residential buildings

Despite the importance of evaluating all mitigation options to inform policy decisions addressing climate change, a comprehensive analysis household-scale interventions and their emissions reduction potential is missing. Here, we address this gap for aimed at changing individual households’ use existing equipment, such as monetary incentives or feedback. We have performed machine learning-assisted systematic review meta-analysis comparatively assess effectiveness these in reducing energy demand residential buildings. extracted 360 effect sizes from 122 studies representing trials 25 countries. Our meta-regression confirms that both non-monetary reduce consumption households, but incentives, reported literature, tend show on average more pronounced effect. Deploying right combinations increases overall effectiveness. estimated global carbon 0.35 GtCO2 yr−1, although deploying most effective packages could result greater reduction. While modest, should be viewed conjunction with need de-risking pathways energy-demand reductions. Behavioural can hence among households. Khanna et al. compare different types household using meta-analysis, examine situations where each useful.