This post was contributed to the Future Summit blog by Simon Divecha, a Future Summit Australian Leadership Awardee. He is the Director of Green Mode and a keen climate change advocate. He can be found online at http://www.greenmode.com.au/ and on twitter at www.twitter.com/simondivecha

In the world of hard climate science, carbon pricing schemes and emissions targets you could be forgiven for thinking that human attitudes are rather unimportant. It sometimes appears that all we have to do is set a carbon price and everything else will follow.

It’s not that simple of course, despite the current difficulties focusing on cap and trade, carbon pollution reduction schemes or carbon taxes and caps.

Nicholas Stern, the ex Chief Economist of the World Bank and author of the UK government’s seminal Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change highlights the issues by placing action, beyond carbon pricing, front and centre. He emphasises:

Three elements of policy for [carbon] mitigation are essential: a carbon price, technology policy, and the removal of barriers to behavioural change. Stern Review p.xxviii

And:

Behaviour is driven by a number of factors, not just financial costs and benefits Stern Review p.378

Yet worldwide we’re struggling to develop this focus. The humble light bulb is a great illustration.

Look around you. In nearly any country you will see incandescent light bulbs or halogen down lights. If you leave these lights in the sockets unchanged it is similar to walking past a $50 note on the pavement and not picking it up.

The improvements can be dramatic – Factor Ten (that is, a ten-fold improvement in the use of energy and resources.) This can mean a 90 percent cut in your business or personal costs and its possible to achieve it today - possibly saving ourselves $9 out of every ten dollars.

The picture shows one example – LED downlights. Available for between about AUD 10 and 20 dollars per light, the lights use 2 to 3 watts each. A normal downlight would use 50 watts.

These lights will pay for themselves

The lights shown in the picture will pay for themselves within 6 months. After this, it’s money in the bank. In addition they should last many times longer than an ordinary 50 watt halogen downlight. saving you or your business the time and cost of replacing ordinary bulbs.

But, for the last two decades while effective alternatives like compact fluorescent light bulbs have been available many people have, metaphorically, continued to walk past the $50 note. So we have to ask ourselves; to what extent are we motivated by money for saving power and the associated greenhouse gasses?

Of course the answer to climate change is not just about light – although the International Energy Agency finds we could cut global electricity consumption by almost 10% with similar changes. Nor is it (only) about changing light bulb jokes…. But it is a great illustration of profitable and meaningful change that delivers economic and environmental carbon advantages there for the taking.

It’s also an illustration of why we need to do more than just put a price on carbon. And why understanding individual perspectives and subjective worldviews are essential for addressing pressing global concerns like climate change.

As a start, and if you are unconvinced, have a look at the following prioritised list from Donella Meadows. The list categorises actions that impact a business in order of effectiveness - 9 being the least effective (and most commonly used):

9. Numbers - e.g. a carbon appraisal or setting internal reporting standards. Knowing what Carbon Pricing will do to supply chain costs.

8. Material stocks and flows. - e.g. tracking the flow of a material across business.

7. Regulating negative feedback loops. - e.g. internal and external audit.

6. Driving positive feedback loops - the more it works the more it gains power to work some more.

5. Information flows - e.g. peoples personal understanding and stories about products that are creating change.

4. The rules of the system (incentives, punishment, constraints).

3. The power of self-organization - e.g. a group creates/demonstrates a new response.

2. The goals of the business - is there / are there an overarching goal for the company?

1. The mindset or paradigm out of which the goals, rules, feedback structure arise. A shared ideal, changing an organisational culture.

For many, who agree with part or all of such a list, this is also about finding a Carbon Advantage. It’s far easier to do such a thing, find the opportunities from climate change, when many others around you are helping. And a lot of this advantage is with people’s attitudes, customer, staff and stakeholder views as much as it is in the future pricing signals, essential as such signals are.

Which takes us back to Nick Stern. Action on climate change and, by extension to find your carbon advantages, is about more than just pricing and numbers.