Decarbonizing Household Lifestyles: An Empirical Approach to Identifying Sensitive Intervention Points

Decarbonizing household lifestyles is a priority for climate mitigation, particularly in high-income societies like Switzerland. Positive tipping points (PTPs) offer a pathway to reshaping behaviors and systemic conditions that lock in carbon-intensive lifestyles. However, the identification of sensitive intervention points—where strategic actions can push self-reinforcing change—remains a key challenge. In the scientific literature, these interventions are typically identified either theoretically, through expert assessments, or retrospectively, from past case studies. This study presents a participatory modeling approach for empirically identifying prospective intervention points, tested in a case study in the Arc Lémanique region. We combine an actor-centered perspective with a system-level analysis of the challenges of reducing lifestyle-related emissions. First, a participatory workshop with policymakers and experts identified and prioritized context-sensitive, domain-specific interventions and their barriers. Discussions revolved around personas encapsulating carbon-intensive household lifestyles, built through stepwise clustering of survey data. Second, we developed causal loop diagrams (CLDs) to model the challenges of reducing household emissions across food, housing, and mobility systems. We used these CLDs in expert interviews to explore the cross-sectoral effects of proposed interventions and their trade-offs. The analysis resulted in two policy mixes integrating behavioral interventions (e.g., visible role models) and structural measures (e.g., distance-based mobility pricing). Governance fragmentation, political inertia, and misaligned incentives emerged as major barriers to achieving positive tipping dynamics. Implications for unlocking PTPs are discussed, emphasizing the need for cross-sectoral coordination and adaptive governance in policy implementation.