Behavioural nudges to net zero: India faces the distinctive challenge of balancing its clean energy targets with economic development and prosperity for its 1.4 billion citizens. The urgency of transitioning to a clean energy future has never been more critical. As India strives to achieve its ambitious net-zero targets, success will depend not only on technological advancements and policy reforms but also on shifts in individual and community behaviour.
While infrastructure investments and financial incentives have been central to India’s energy transition strategy, incorporating behavioural nudging—an approach effectively used worldwide to promote energy conservation, encouraging adoption of cleaner fuels, and influencing mobility patterns—can serve as a cost-effective and impactful tool to drive sustainable energy consumption.
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Catalyst for net zero transition
Behaviour plays a crucial role in shaping energy consumption patterns, technology adoption and sustainable practices. A behaviour refers to the actions or decisions made by individuals or groups, influenced by cognitive biases, social norms, and incentives.
Traditional policy interventions rely heavily on financial and regulatory mechanisms, but behavioural science offers a complementary approach by subtly guiding choices without restricting options—a concept known as nudging.
Nudging involves designing interventions that leverage human psychology to encourage desirable behaviours, such as conserving electricity, adopting renewable energy, or choosing energy-efficient appliances. By embedding behavioural insights into energy transition policies, we can create scalable, cost-effective, and impactful solutions that accelerate India’s shift toward sustainability.
Multiple studies in India have shown that Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) star labels and operating cost information significantly influence consumer choices. For example, consumers were found willing to pay more for 5-star ACs and refrigerators, with preferences shifting strongly when annual electricity running cost estimates were included. These interventions effectively nudged individuals toward adopting energy-efficient appliances such as ACs and refrigerators.
Additionally, tapping into social norms such as showcasing the growing adoption of clean cooking technologies within communities can increase the willingness to move away from polluting fuels like biomass and kerosene.
Designing effective nudges for transition
Despite significant progress in renewable energy deployment and electric vehicle promotion in India, resistance to change one’s behaviour remains a major obstacle. India Energy Outlook 2021 notes that energy transition in India is not just a matter of infrastructure but also of user behavior. It highlights that adoption of EVs is limited by lack of familiarity, perceived inconvenience, and social perceptions—beyond affordability or charging infrastructure. Deep-rooted cultural habits, concerns about reliability and high upfront costs often discourage households and businesses from embracing sustainable energy solutions.
Despite increased access to LPG through schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, 41 percent of India’s population still rely on solid fuels. Economic constraints, cultural preferences and technical needs contribute to this persistence.
Gender roles also limit women’s influence in fuel-related decision-making. Despite being the primary users of household energy, especially for cooking, women in India often have limited control over fuel-related decision-making due to entrenched gender roles and social norms. Financial expenses and major household decisions are typically made by the male head of the household restricting women’s ability to influence energy choices. These barriers highlight the need for behavioral nudges such as targeted awareness campaigns, community role models and incentives to encourage the exclusive use of cleaner cooking options.
Addressing these behavioural barriers requires a nuanced understanding of socio-economic differences. While urban consumers may be more receptive to incentives such as time-of-day pricing for electricity usage, rural communities are likely to benefit more from grassroots awareness campaigns that highlight long-term cost savings and health advantages.
Leveraging Mission LiFE to drive change
The Indian government’s flagship initiative, Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), has been designed to promote an environmentally responsible way of living by embedding sustainable choices into daily routines.
It is rooted in the idea that small individual actions, when adopted widely, can lead to a substantial positive impact on the environment.Through Mission LiFE, energy-saving behaviours like switching to LED lighting, conserving water and embracing clean cooking practices can be amplified using nudging strategies.
Behavioural nudging complements Mission LiFE’s ethos by offering scientific methods from behavioural economics, psychology, and social norm theory to promote mindful consumption. It leverages tools like defaults, social comparisons, and framing to influence everyday choices.
Techniques such as storytelling, public pledges and community recognition can motivate wider participation and help normalise eco-friendly habits. These interventions not only contribute to emissions reduction but also nurture a culture of sustainability and shared environmental responsibility.
To further support the use of nudges, energy researchers are now actively trying to quantify the magnitude of the savings achieved with the help of such interventions. In one such modelling study, the International Energy Agency reports that the adoption worldwide of the kinds of actions and measures targeted by LiFE, including behavioural changes and sustainable consumer choices, would reduce annual global carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2 billion tonnes in 2030.
Global lessons
Countries such as Germany and Japan have effectively demonstrated how behavioural nudging can complement regulatory and market-based mechanisms to drive energy efficiency.
In Germany, the introduction of real-time feedback on energy consumption through smart meters has led to measurable reductions in household electricity usage. Studies indicate that households receiving real-time consumption data achieved an average reduction of 3.7 percent to 5.7 percent in electricity use.
Similarly, Japan successfully leveraged behavioural nudges in response to the Fukushima disaster by implementing voluntary energy reduction targets. The government set a nationwide goal for households to reduce electricity consumption by 15 percent, reinforcing this initiative through widespread public campaigns. This approach led to significant energy savings across the country.
In India, pilot projects employing behavioural nudging—such as commitment devices to encourage solar rooftop adoption or gamification strategies to promote EV usage—have the potential to scale into broader policy initiatives.
One notable example is the Give It Up campaign for LPG subsidies in 2015. This initiative encouraged middle- and upper-income households to voluntarily relinquish their LPG subsidy, enabling the government to redirect resources toward expanding access to cleaner cooking fuels for lower-income families.
By leveraging social norms such as “give it up for the poor” appeals that highlighted others giving up subsidies and public recognition strategies such as naming donors on government websites and issuing appreciation certificates, the campaign successfully nudged over 10 million households to surrender their subsidies, contributing to the expansion of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
India’s energy transition journey needs to go beyond technological and financial solutions to embrace behavioural science as a strategic pillar.
By fostering individual responsibility, social norm reinforcement and community engagement, India can accelerate its shift to sustainable energy in a way that is both inclusive and impactful.
Empowering citizens to make environmentally sound choices in their daily lives will be essential in building a greener, more resilient tomorrow.
Ilika Mohan is Research Manager and Kaswi Sansanwal Junior Research Associate at the Ashoka Centre for a People-Centic Energy Transition, Ashoka University. Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info
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