Conceptualising an endogenous representation of human behaviour change in a feedback-based, global-scale integrated assessment model

IAMs have been criticised for overly technoeconomic representation of human behaviour. They do not sufficiently represent the social-cultural processes necessary for assessing demand-side solutions. Others have looked to behavioural theories in psychology to include in such models. Our approach, instead, integrates knowledge from abstract psychological theories with co-produced knowledge of behaviour-specific consumption regimes from a systems perspective. In doing so, we identify several feedback loops related to economic, sociocultural, and socioecological processes that influence consumption. Behaviour change is thus represented as the complex interaction of these feedback processes, which can be included within environmentally significant consumption domains modelled in IAMs.