Accelerating climate protection by behavioural insights: the Planetary Health Action Survey (PACE)

Jenny, Mirjam A.; Lehrer, Lena; Eitze, Sarah; Sprengholz, Philipp; Korn, Lars; Shamsrizi, Parichehr; Geiger, Mattis; Hellmann, Lennart; Mai, Lisa; Maur, Kira; Betsch, Cornelia

doi:10.1016/s2542-5196(22)00281-9

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The items covered four domains: general policy statements, energy and housing, mobility, and diet and food production. Agreement with the statements ranged from "completely disagree" (1) to "fully agree" (7). A mean score was calculated.…”

Section: Sociodemographic Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Understanding Sociodemographic Differences in Climate Behavior, Climate Policy Acceptance, and Political Participation

Lehrer,

Hellmann,

Betsch

2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: To mitigate the global health threat posed by climate change, multifaceted responses are required. As shown in previous work, older, male, and highly educated individuals exhibit greater general readiness to act against climate change; the same is true of people living in larger communities. The present study investigates the relationships between the indicators (facets) of the readiness to act against climate change—namely individual climate-friendly behavior, acceptance of climate-protection policies, and political participation—and relevant sociodemographic factors.Methods: Data from four waves (2022–2023) of the Planetary Health Action Survey (PACE) were analyzed (N = 3,830, nonprobabilistic representative German sample). Sociodemographic variables (e.g., gender, age, and education) and the three abovementioned facets of the readiness to act against climate change were assessed to examine their relationships.Results: Women and older individuals exhibited more climate-friendly behavior and policy acceptance. Political participation showed the opposite trend. Higher education was linked to less sustainable behavior, greater policy acceptance, and higher participation, while municipality size was only linked to the latter two. Additional analyses explore the relations between age and the constructs at the item level.Conclusions: The findings underscore the importance of a nuanced understanding of people’s readiness to act against climate change. There is a need for tailored communication strategies in climate action that consider communication objectives along with audience characteristics. Different target groups may be relevant when campaigners want to increase political participation rather than change individual behaviors. As older individuals exhibit greater readiness to act in some respects, it is important to include young people in climate-communication efforts.

show abstract

Section: Sociodemographic Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Implementing effective political measures is crucial to alleviate climate change. Public acceptance of and compliance with policies are key factors [7,8]. Furthermore, in democracies, citizens can engage in politics through institutional means, such as elections and petitions, or by participating in discussions and demonstrations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Sociodemographic Differences in Climate Behavior, Climate Policy Acceptance, and Political Participation

Lehrer,

Hellmann,

Betsch

2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Participants were surveyed in August 2023 and recruited from a non-probabilistic German sample (N = 1,014), which was quota representative for age × gender, and federal state with regard to the German adult population (17). The participants were 51% male (49% female) and aged 18 to 74 years (M = 45.47, SD = 15.90).…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding climate polarization: Identification with and discrimination between climate policy opinion groups

Sprengholz,

Henkel,

Betsch

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While climate change requires decisive and rapid action, public discourse on the appropriateness of climate policies has intensified in many countries. Based on a quota-representative sample from Germany (N = 1,014), we show that people form groups based on their climate policy opinions, and that identification with these groups relates to different aspects of societal polarization and conflict. Specifically, more strongly identified individuals were more likely to surround themselves with like-minded people, discriminate against people with different opinions, and support extreme behaviors of opinion-congruent activistgroups. Identification was further related to individual climate behavior. The results indicate that climate policy polarization has the potential to fuel conflicts between different opinion-based groups and may impede political negotiation as well as compromise processes and peaceful societal change.

show abstract

“…For optimal and externally valid measurement of all constructs representing the current state of the art in climate science, we integrate qualitative and quantitative methods and data from a wide range of sources: analysis of interviews with climate experts and expert ratings and psychometric item sampling for the knowledge measure 37 ; techniques from computer science on outcomes from the participatory process of the German Civil Council on Climate to sample items for the policy acceptance measure 38 ; CO2 tons emission data to select and weight relevant individual behaviours 21 . All items are derived from theory and tested regarding their psychometric properties 39 , and the scales represent the respective best version obtained in an iterative improvement process 40 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling and explaining readiness to act against climate change by integrating individual and system-related behaviours

Betsch,

Geiger,

Lehrer

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Behavioural science in the climate change field has mainly focused on understanding and changing individual behaviours. However, effectively addressing the climate crisis requires broadening the focus on systemic change. This paper introduces a novel model that defines readiness to act against climate change by considering individual climate-protection behaviours along with acceptance of climate policies and political participation. The model undergoes rigorous validation by psychometrically evaluating measurement instruments and testing the explanatory power of a comprehensive set of predictors, including perceived health risks, trust in institutions, social norms, perceived efficacy of political measures, self-efficacy, and knowledge. Utilising latent modelling, we separate general variance in the readiness to act from specific variance in individual behaviour, policy acceptance, and political participation; estimate relations that most closely approximate true relations between constructs and illuminate complex behavioural patterns. This approach surpasses individualised perspectives on climate action and includes a behavioural perspective on system-level change.

show abstract

Accelerating climate protection by behavioural insights: the Planetary Health Action Survey (PACE)

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Understanding Sociodemographic Differences in Climate Behavior, Climate Policy Acceptance, and Political Participation

Understanding Sociodemographic Differences in Climate Behavior, Climate Policy Acceptance, and Political Participation

Understanding climate polarization: Identification with and discrimination between climate policy opinion groups

Modelling and explaining readiness to act against climate change by integrating individual and system-related behaviours

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About