Previous research shows that humans display complexity aversion. In this article, we test for the presence of complexity aversion and its determinants in the context of voluntary climate action, where individual choices interact with the complex regulatory framework of the EU Emission Trading...

In a general equilibrium model we clarify conditions for abatement-effective sector coupling. First, if the electricity sector is put under emissions trading any additional electricity consumption will be emission-free, such that relative emissions intensities do not matter for...

Major climate-cum-energy policies and respective impact projections rest on the widespread belief that increased energy efficiency can be equated with savings in energy use and emissions. This belief is flawed. Due to the rebound effect emissions savings from energy efficiency improvements will...

The European Union and Germany have recently committed themselves to greenhouse-gas neutrality by 2050 and 2045, respectively. This substantially reduces their gaps in ambition to the Paris climate goals. However, the current climate policy mix is not sufficient to reach these targets: There is...

We test the hypothesis that protest participation decisions in an adult population of potential climate protesters are interdependent. Subjects (n = 1,510) from four German cities were recruited two weeks before protest date. We measured participation and beliefs about the other subjects'...

We test the hypothesis that protest participation decisions in an adult population of potential climate protesters are interdependent. Subjects (n = 1,510) from the four largest German cities were recruited two weeks before protest date. We measured participation (ex post) and beliefs about the...

Governments around the globe embrace "energy efficiency" to address climate change. For example, the European Union’s "2030 Climate and Energy Framework" explicitly links the pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% until 2030 (from 1990 levels) to the goal of a 32.5% improvement of...

Decision-makers commonly avoid information on uncertain social effects of their privately beneficial choices. The dominant theory holds that such "strategic ignorance" is a means to circumvent inner moral conflict while acting self-servingly. In extension of the theory, we hypothesize that time...

Many modern organisations employ methods which involve monitoring of employees' actions in order to encourage teamwork in the workplace. While monitoring promotes a transparent working environment, the effects of making monitoring itself transparent may be ambiguous and have received...