COBHAM is an European Research Council (ERC) grant awarded to Prof. Massimo Tavoni. The objective of COBHAM is to study behavior and interactions among individuals and their impact on energy efficiency and climate change mitigation. The project aims at increasing our understanding of human behavior in relation to the environment and in developing models able to incorporate the heterogeneity and the complex dynamics of individual decision making.

General Objectives

The objective of COBHAM is to study behavior and interactions among individuals and their impact on energy efficiency and climate change mitigation. The project aims at increasing our understanding of human behavior in relation to the environment and in developing models able to incorporate the heterogeneity and the complex dynamics of individual decision making.The project integrates different disciplines –behavioural economics, complex networks, big data analytics, integrated assessment modeling- with the objective to go beyond the standard analysis of energy and climate policies in the presence of environmental externalities, by accounting for the heterogeneity in consumers’ preferences, the role of social interactions, and the presence of behavioral tendencies and biases.

Expected Results

The project seeks to:

• Carry out innovative research in the theoretical understanding of the interplay between behavioral tendencies and environmental externalities;
• Generate new empirical data and research on individual preferences by means of original surveys and controlled experiments;
• Enhance integrated assessment models (IAMs) of economy, energy and climate with an advanced representation of consumers’ behavior.

In doing so, the project will be able to provide a richer characterization of energy demand and of greenhouse gas emission scenarios, to better estimate consumers’ responsiveness to energy and climate policies, and to provide input to the design of new policy instruments aimed at influencing energy and environmental sustainable behavior.