ABSTRACT
Individuals are more than just consumers in climate change mitigation. Therefore, climate mitigation policies should go beyond economic cost-benefit incentives (e.g., subsidies and taxes). First, the social environment, cultural practices, public knowledge, producer technologies and services, and facilities used by consumers – all should be considered when designing implementable and politically feasible policy options. Second, various financial, social, and other instruments in the policy mix should be designed as a coherent set to reinforce each other, optimizing the joint effectiveness. In particular, policies such as the provision of targeted information, social advertisements, and power of celebrities for the broader public in combination with education can be used to create more knowledge and awareness in the longer run and could accompany and reinforce the effectiveness of other stimuli such as subsidies. These types of policies (soft policies) may prove to be more effective in promoting green energy solutions implemented by households compared to fiscal policy measures alone.
