Achieving climate neutrality means fundamentally transforming production methods and the energy system, renovating and decarbonising the building stock and making large-scale investments in public transport systems. Household decisions on housing, mobility and consumption play a key role in this regard. This panel therefore looks at what bearing households can have on the ecological transformation: Where and to what extent can they make a meaningful contribution to the climate objectives? To what degree can a change in household demand help foster climate-friendly innovations on the supply side? What influence do we have in our capacity as consumers?

Surveys show that a majority of the general public regard climate change and the response to it as a key policy issue, but also that they fear financial implications and restrictions in terms of their individual freedom of choice, or even bans.

This discrepancy between what is necessary and what is possible presents considerable challenges for policymakers: How can environmental policy succeed and stake out the necessary long-term framework without losing the support of the electorate? The answer to this question is politically relevant, and it has a crucial impact on macroeconomic variables such as price developments, consumption and investment. Key decisions by households – in particular, concerning housing renovation and decarbonisation and climate-neutral mobility – have a direct impact on macroeconomics.

This panel focuses on the role played by households as economic agents through their consumption and investment decisions and as voters. It complements the topics covered in the two previous panels: the role of enterprises in the ecological transformation and the international coordination of climate policy.

Panel III – online event on 1 February 2022, 15:00-17:00 (CET)

Event language: German

“The role of private households in the ecological transformation: housing, mobility, consumption”