Dr. Adam Hearn

Religious communities are able to address climate change and other environmental challenges. They can use their public voice to lobby for progressive climate policies, disseminate pro-environmental values among their members, and undertake projects to improve the carbon footprint of their institutions (e.g. energy efficient refurbishments). However, it is unclear to what extent religious communities in Switzerland are undertaking such activities and contribute to solve existing environmental challenges. 

Scholarship suggests that religious traditions and communities become more environmentally aware and engaged over time. Although the topic has increasingly received attention in recent years, there is still little expertise about religious environmentalism at the congregational level. Yet, research at the congregational level is particularly important, given that congregations constitute important mediators of environmental engagement between the macro-level leadership of religious communities and the micro-level membership. Congregations can disseminate “green” theologies and environmental programs, which the leadership initiated, among the local membership. At the same time, they can promote religious grass-roots initiatives, which started at the local level, towards the leadership or expand them towards other local congregations.

This project will identify (a) to what extent congregations in Switzerland are environmentally engaged, (b) what types of environmental engagement they undertake, and (c) under what circumstances they are most likely to be environmentally engaged. To this end, the research team conducts a survey about the environmental engagement of congregations. The project will contribute to the increasing international debates about religious environmental engagement by exploring the mechanisms of this engagement.

The project is being conducted under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jens Köhrsen at the Center for Religion, Economics and Politics (ZRWP) at the University of Basel. The team consists of Adam Hearn, Fabian Huber, Ann-Lea Buzzi and Julius Malin.

The study is being conducted in collaboration with the project "Switzerland's changing religious diversity. The National Congregations Study Switzerland II", which is being conducted at the University of Lausanne under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jörg Stolz.

The Sustainability Research Group (SRG) has numerous roles within the SWEET-CoSi project. As part of WP4, researchers help to define key consumer behaviors, their underlying drivers, and their evolution in the context of the Swiss energy transition and integrate them into a joint framework of individual consumer decision-making. This is used as basis for a SSH-model framework which is then used for online surveys and experiments which will be conducted to better understand and quantify the impact of the identified behaviours and drivers. Furthermore, in WP5, the SRG contributes by developing a toolbox to support co-visioning, co-creation, and governance processes in PEDs, through living lab research, focus group workshops, interviews and surveys.

ENPOWER seeks to craft, cultivate, and showcase methodologies rooted in social sciences and humanities. Through interactive, closed-loop ICT tools and services, it aims to empower energy-engaged citizens and foster data-driven, secure energy communities, ultimately steering toward a consumer-centric energy framework. By transforming conventional passive energy consumers into proactive energy citizens, the project endeavors to empower individuals to govern their energy consumption effectively.

Research at the Sustainability Research Group focuses on the social layer, through both qualitative (interviews and focus groups) and quantitative (an international survey and discrete choice experiment) to unveil consumer preferences and behaviors within energy communities, amplifying citizen engagement through participative research methodologies. SRG research will enable dialogue among stakeholders, facilitating a collaborative process for crafting consumer-centric, data-driven services and incentives.

ReFuel.ch aims to improve the sustainability and reduce the costs of sustainable fuels and platform chemicals by increasing the efficiency, selectivity, and load-flexibility of production plants to comply with long-term climate policy goals. ReFuel.ch will therefore develop robust and practical pathways for introducing sustainable fuels and platform chemicals to markets and the Swiss energy system using an inter- and transdisciplinary approach. This will include inputs from social science (including the Sustainability Research Group), natural sciences, and engineering, as well as the dialogue with relevant stakeholders - i.e., policy makers, regulators, market actors, and end users - via regular thematic round table discussions. Within this framework, case studies for domestic, European, and non-European implementations will be evaluated and co-designed, and consumer acceptance will be determined through the use of quantitative research methods.