Community Climate Alliance (CoClimA)

Reducing CO2 emissions is essential for fighting climate change. This requires fundamental social change on the regional level, where emissions from private households originate. This change goes hand in hand with citizens, whereby in the current project they are not seen as individuals but as part of local communities. Belonging to a particular group that strives for sustainability encourages members to change their social norms and behaviour regarding climate friendly actions.

CoClimA therefore focuses on working with regional groups (associations and organizations) to promote climate-friendly behaviour in a region. Existing members of local associations are encouraged to support the project as citizen scientists and to reflect on their behaviour and actions with regard to climate protection and to reduce personal CO2 emissions through targeted measures in consumption of food and clothes, mobility and energy consumption. The research focuses on two regions: Römerland Carnuntum and KLAR! Mistelbach - Wolkersdorf. Römerland Carnuntum region comprises about 30 municipalities and several cadastral municipalities, while KLAR! Mistelbach - Wolkersdorf comprises only three municipalities and a few cadastral municipalities.

In the project scientific research on social norms and regional action by examining the

• the effects of regional social norms on climate-friendly behaviour
• the development of regional norms
• the spread of behavioural change in the regional area.

The CoClimA project is funded by the Gesellschaft für Forschungsförderung Niederösterreich - GFF NÖ. Project number: FTI23-C-004

The aim of CoClimA is to investigate whether the community-based climate-friendly commitment of citizens can be seen in the social norms and behaviors of the region. Precise interventions will be developed and implemented to promote climate-friendly behaviour.

Pre- and post-questionnairs investigate social norms and behaviors in the regions. Between the two surveys, selected associations implement measures to promote climate-friendly behavior. The project team compares the results of the two questionnaires in order to analyze the differences and changes over two years. At the same time, we administer similar questionnaires to a control group of a sample representative for Austria with the support of a market research agency.

The project comprises four phases:

1. Recruitment of regional associations (October 2024 to March 2025): 10 associations from each of the two regions will be selected for the research and will work intensively with the project team.

2. Evaluation (April 2025 - May 2027): Members of the associations will actively support the project team in creating, conducting and evaluating the questionnaires.

3. Implementation of interventions (May 2025 - March 2027): The participating associations will select climate-friendly interventions together with experts in workshops and implement them in their region.

4. Communication (April 2027 - September 2027): Once the interventions have been successfully implemented, the findings are disseminated to umbrella organizations in order to achieve a much more broader impact. Results and insights from the CoClimA project are communicated regularly from November 2024.

Duration of the project: October 2024 to September 2027

An important aspect of the CoClimA project is cooperation with regional associations. Existing members of the associations are encouraged to actively participate as citizen scientists in the research process. Citizen Scientists are citizens who support the project team in the preparation of questionnaires as well as data collection and analysis. As researchers in the respective regions, they significantly contribute to the project.

Curious about our partner associations? You will soon find more information on the participating associations here.

Stay informed! Find latest insights on our Facebook-Page or our Instagram-Profile.

Inspiring ideas and practical approaches for climate-friendly behaviour will soon be available here.

Late-breaking insights into presentations and publications will be available in a few months' time.

General enquiries can be sent to coclima(at)fernfh.ac.at.