Climate is changing behaviour – and business must react

Analysis: The Covid pandemic brought huge changes to how we live. Now the push for net zero will require the same and government must help consumers make the switch, writes Phil Thornton

A protester in Glasgow, the host city for Cop26 (PA)

Anyone who has tried to give up smoking, cut down on alcohol or take up more exercise will know how hard it is to embrace new habits that are painful in the short term but offer huge long-term benefits.

Negotiators at the Cop26 climate conference are starting to make a series of opaque commitments to cut emissions. Ultimately, it will fall to corporates to fulfil these promises, and households to pay the bill, whether through higher taxes, reduced choice, or one-off costs for a new car or boiler.

Luckily, there are some lessons on behaviour to be drawn from a recent episode when governmental reaction to a major crisis led to significant changes: the Covid-19 pandemic.