Cooperative Behaviour for Sustainability

• Design and Testing of Rules and Institutions for Cooperation in Climate Protection
• Design and Analysis of Climate Protection and Adaptation Measures in Private Households 
• Sustainable Consumer Behaviour, Particularly in the Area of Energy and Mobility

With our research on cooperation problems, we contribute to the development of well-functioning rules and institutions that enable the efficient use of common goods in climate protection. In doing so, we take particular account of behavioural economic methods and findings. We focus primarily on two topics, namely the analysis of joint and coordinated action in international climate policy and the investigation of the cooperative behaviour of actors at the downstream levels, especially consumers.

At the same time, our research serves to better understand how people make decisions and how these influence the effectiveness of climate and energy policy regulation. To study human decision-making behaviour, we use, for example, laboratory and field experiments.

Our behavioural and environmental economics-based approach contributes to important insights in empirical cause-and-effect analysis and provides evidence-based answers to major economic policy questions of our time.