On October 27th 2023, the Research Institute for Environmental Economics and Management (RIEEM) hosted an international workshop titled “Waseda-Kassel Environmental Economics Workshop”. This event encouraged the collaboration between researchers from the University of Kassel, Germany and researchers from Waseda University, Japan, as well as the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Fukui Prefectural University, the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, and Seijo University. This workshop marks the 4th year of an ongoing academic collaboration between Waseda University and the University of Kassel, which was fostered by Prof. Andreas Ziegler (University of Kassel) and Prof. Toshi H. Arimura (Waseda University, head of RIEEM).
The workshop focused on households’ environmental preferences and green behaviors. The residential sector is known to represent a large share of the global electricity consumption, estimated around a quarter of global electricity consumption. Hence, understanding what drives households’ energy consumption and potential methods to enhance energy conservation and demand for sustainable goods is crucial to reduce the global demand for energy.
Prof. Andreas Ziegler (University of Kassel) opened the workshop with his first presentation, titled “The expressive effect of legal norms”, examining whether German households’ preferences for sustainable goods and their reaction to a new law ensuring fair working conditions. He crafted a choice experiment for sustainable socks and estimated the willingness to pay (WTP) for such products. Interestingly, respondents were shown to be unaffected by the introduction of the law. Prof. Gunnar Gutsche (University of Kassel) followed with a presentation titled “Cultural values and sustainable investment behavior in Japan”, in collaboration with Prof. Miwa Nakai (Fukui Prefectural University). After noting that ESG investment are lagging in Japan, he pondered whether this observation could be due from cultural differences between Japan and the Europe/North America. In future research, he will be exploring the potential impact of the “和, wa” “生きがい, ikigai” and “もったいない, mottainai” concepts, and attempting to come up with a alterations to the definition of ESG so it could encompass Japanese views on sustainability. Finally, Mrs Aline Mortha (Waseda University) discussed climate change attitudes and psychological determinants of green household behaviors by presenting the latest findings of an OECD survey. She concluded that, while environmental consciousness is important, respondents who felt personally motivated to tackle climate change or who felt vulnerable to climate change were more likely to install green appliances or engage in energy conservation behaviors.
After a short break, Prof. Heike Wetzel (University of Kassel) took the floor to discuss the latest results of a choice experiment conducted in Germany. She targeted households who were considering purchasing solar PV (with and without battery) and evaluated their preferences for renting or buying the PV system. Her findings highlight that respondents preferred buying PV systems with batteries, rather than renting them. In addition, she found a positive WTP for regional energy sharing systems. Finally, Prof. Ngawang Dendup (Waseda University) concluded the workshop with findings from his structural estimation on non-linear electricity pricing in Bhutan. He showed that electricity consumers were not necessarily all responsive to marginal electricity rates, as some were biased towards the average electricity prices, and some were simply confused by the non-linear pricing. His welfare analysis explored potential reforms and offered suggestions for policymakers.
