On 23 September 2026, ConPolicy Managing Director Prof. Dr. Christian Thorun gave a keynote presentation at the AGil Days of the German Business Initiative for Energy Efficiency (DENEFF). The presentation focused on how the current contradictory political and communication environment affects consumers’ decisions on energy-efficient home modernisation and energy efficiency.
Thorun showed that changing framework conditions, high technical and legal complexity, concerns about high costs, as well as emotionally charged and negative narratives lead consumers to postpone or avoid decisions. Behavioural economic mechanisms such as ambiguity aversion, cognitive overload, loss aversion and the availability heuristic reinforce these effects.
Based on this analysis, Thorun identified five approaches for consumer-oriented communication: providing guidance despite uncertainty, simplifying decisions, enabling an entry point with as little risk as possible, putting security and freedom at the centre of communication, and making successful real-world modernisation examples more visible.
The key message: Communication cannot solve political and regulatory problems. But it can help consumers take action when the benefits are tangible, the path is simple and the first step is manageable.