Browsing by Author "Ramos, Tuuli"

This thesis aims to illuminate expert dissensus on the policy instruments for reducing the carbon footprint of household consumption. In this thesis, I focus specifically on the policy instruments for addressing Finnish households’ consumption, proposed in the policy Delphi study by Salo et al. (2023), and experts’ responses regarding the measures’ importance. Exploring expert dissensus regarding consumption policy instruments is essential since identifying the measures that elicit expert dissensus and unveiling experts’ opinions on these measures promotes transparency in policymaking, helps to identify underlying assumptions, inconsistencies, and potential blind spots within the proposed measures, and therefore, contributes to better policy formulation. Two research questions are answered in this thesis to explore expert dissensus regarding consumption policy instruments: 1) What policy instruments to reduce the carbon footprint of household consumption elicit the most dissensus among experts? and 2) On what grounds do experts agree or disagree on the instruments exhibiting expert dissensus? A quantitative analysis involving calculating the interquartile range of experts’ responses was done to reveal which policy instruments exhibited expert dissensus. As a result, 26.8% of all proposed policy instruments were identified to exhibit expert dissensus. Subsequently, experts’ open comments regarding these policy instruments were examined through a thematic analysis to understand the grounds for expert dissensus. As a result of this research, seven themes emerging from experts’ open comments were identified: 1) Effectiveness, 2) Feasibility and practicality, 3) Content of policy mix, 4) Content of policy measure, 5) Consideration of other factors guiding consumption, 6) Consideration of possible side effects of utilizing the measure, and 7) Normative claims. Of these themes, the most prevalent was effectiveness, and the least prevalent were normative claims. As previous literature points out, the evaluation of policy instruments involves a blend of normative and empirical aspects. While it is unclear to what extent experts resorted to implicit normative assumptions within their evaluation process, this thesis concludes that information and uncertainty-related aspects, especially regarding effectiveness, require further consideration in sustainable consumption policymaking and research regarding policy measures exhibiting expert dissensus.