Lifestyles in transition: challenges and opportunities of their integration in low-carbon pathways. Issue Brief No. 01, April 2020

While the question of lifestyles, including different perspectives on their possible future evolution, has long been central to ecological thinking, the explicit integration of this dimension within the framework of decarbonization pathways is a relatively recent development. Narrative components and quantified hypotheses are gradually being introduced in the decarbonization discussion and becoming the subject of investigation, alongside the more conventional technical and economic discussions (e.g. on the development of renewable energy, electrification, agricultural intensification, etc.). This renewed focus responds in particular the gap between the limited progress made on emissions reductions in the past 30 years and the increasingly ambitious climate objectives being set in light of new scientific knowledge regarding likely impacts. The extent of the transformation in all economic systems needed is gradually becoming clearer, as is the need to integrate carbon neutrality objectives into global development pathways. The carbon neutrality objective presents considerable challenges to traditional approaches to modelling decarbonization pathways and on modelers responsible for finding emissions reductions pathways. This somehow leads to a shift in approach: rather than identifying the best options, an 'all of the above' approach is now required that presents all available and viable options and mobilises all available resources. This includes not only technical solutions, but also strong demand-side measures (efficiency and sufficiency). Amidst increasing awareness and growing media attention on individual action and lifestyle changes, it is crucial to understand how these societal aspects can be integrated structurally in the analysis of long-term decarbonization pathways and included as a core component of debates on policies and actions. This Issue Brief clarifies the challenges and, based on the analysis of foresight exercises, provides conceptual frameworks that can help navigate the issues and structure political discussions. Key messages: Three challenges must be tackled in order to better integrate lifestyle changes into low-carbon pathways: - Acknowledging the political dimensions of an exploration of lifestyles; - Overcoming barriers to multidisciplinary approaches; - Promoting new methodologies for pathway design. Addressing these challenges and better integrating lifestyles into the scenarios would bring four benefits to policy discussions based on foresight studies: - Overcoming the limits of current techno-economic pathways in understanding and implementing the transition; - Exploring new types of transformative decarbonization pathways that better combine techno- economic changes and social evolution; - Making these pathways more concrete for citizens; - Better integrating of social sciences and social dimensions (inequalities, SDGs) into climate change expertise, discussions and policies