A Tragedy of the Horizons? Temporal perspectives on environmental policy

Abstract

This thesis focuses on pro-environmental behavior (PEB), intended as any action that an individual undertakes or refrains from to minimize his/her negative impact on the environment and the climate. This thesis is articulated in three independent chapters. The red thread which connects these three papers is the focus on the relationship between environmental policy, individual decisions and time. The notions of time explored in this thesis span from considering i) time as a socio-cultural attitude –with certain nations being more future-focused than others–; ii) time as an individual preference that classify individuals as either impatient or forward-looking; and iii) time as the embedded, yet hidden contextual feature of environmental decision-making and policies. These chapters contribute to demonstrate that temporal preferences and the embedded temporal context of environmental choice contexts are relevant in determining individual behavior and the public approval of environmental policies. Individuals have a tendency to forego immediate costs, especially if those costs are justified by an intangible and temporally distant goal. But by gaining awareness of how time affect individual choices, we can craft decision environments that neutralize the effect of impatience without constraining the choices that are available to the individual.