Environmental Awareness and Social Sustainability: Insights from an Agent-Based Model with Social Learning and Individual Heterogeneity

• Published in: Sustainability Vol. 16; no. 17; p. 7853
• Main Authors: Zhang, Chengquan, Wu, Xifeng, Qian, Kun, Zhao, Sijia, Madani, Hatef, Chen, Jin, Chen, Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2024
• Subjects: Agent based models; agent-based model; Awareness; Decision making; Education; Electricity; Energy; Environmental aspects; environmental awareness; Environmental quality; Environmental sustainability; Green products; heterogeneity; Influence; Quantitative analysis; Social aspects; Social learning; Social sustainability; Sustainable development; Willingness to pay; Japan
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su16177853

Social sustainability requires both technological innovations and societal changes within energy systems, with decentralization playing a critical role. This shift emphasizes the increasing importance of individual user decision-making, posing significant management challenges. An individual’s environmental awareness has a key influence on their energy decisions. However, the relationship between individual environmental awareness and social sustainability, particularly from a systemic perspective, remains underexplored. Our study uses agent-based modeling to examine this relationship within Japan’s electricity market, focusing on social learning and consumer heterogeneity. We find that social learning leads to the formation of consumer clusters with specific electricity preferences, affecting environmental awareness differently across high- and low-carbon groups. This process reveals the nuanced role of social learning in promoting low-carbon technology adoption, which varies according to the market share of low-carbon energy. Additionally, our results suggest that initial heterogeneity in environmental awareness among consumers has a limited and varied effect on sustainable transition pathways. However, the diversity resulting from social learning significantly shapes these trajectories. These insights highlight the complex interplay between individual behaviors, societal dynamics, and technological advancements in steering the sustainable transition, providing valuable considerations for future energy system management.