Climate Change Risk Perception in Taiwan: Correlation with Individual and Societal Factors

Abstract

This study differentiates the risk perception and influencing factors of climate change along the dimensions of global severity and personal threat. Using the 2013 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSGS) data (N = 2001) as a representative sample of adults from Taiwan, we investigated the influencing factors of the risk perceptions of climate change in these two dimensions (global severity and personal threat). Logistic regression models were used to examine the correlations of individual factors (gender, age, education, climate-related disaster experience and risk awareness, marital status, employment status, household income, and perceived social status) and societal factors (religion, organizational embeddedness, and political affiliations) with the above two dimensions. The results demonstrate that climate-related disaster experience has no significant impact on either the perception of global severity or the perception of personal impact. However, climate-related risk awareness (regarding typhoons, in particular) is positively associated with both dimensions of the perceived risks of climate change. With higher education, individuals are more concerned about global severity than personal threat. Regarding societal factors, the supporters of political parties have higher risk perceptions of climate change than people who have no party affiliation. Religious believers have higher risk perceptions of personal threat than non-religious people. This paper ends with a discussion about the effectiveness of efforts to enhance risk perception of climate change with regard to global severity and personal threat.

Towards an East Asian model of climate change awareness: A questionnaire study among university students in Taiwan

“…In the US, research has found an interaction between political beliefs, with a positive relationship between climate change knowledge and concern among Democrats but a negative relationship among Republicans [ 37 , 38 ]. In an earlier risk perception survey of the entire adult population of Taiwan, education was generally found to predict concern towards climate change [ 20 ].…”

“…The present study seeks to help answer such questions by summarizing key findings from a broader investigation of attitudes towards climate change in Taiwan. Recent studies in Taiwan suggest that a high degree of concern about climate change exists in the adult population [ 20 ] but that this concern has not translated into high levels of behavioral change [ 21 ]. Taiwan’s policymakers have increasingly turned to education to promote sustainable development, culminating in the Environmental Education Act in 2011 [ 22 ], and Taiwan’s public-school teachers have been shown to have adequate levels of environmental literacy [ 23 ].…”

How will climate change shape climate opinion?

“…Many papers that consider subjective experience focus on experience with extreme events or disasters, especially flooding [24,47,48,[52][53][54], but also tropical cyclones, drought, wildfire, and other changes [47,49]. Such differences are non-trivial, as each event carries very different risks, is associated with different economic costs, and affects individuals and communities in very different ways.…”

Analysis of the Impact of Values and Perception on Climate Change Skepticism and Its Implication for Public Policy

“…However, several studies present a different view. For example, Sun and Han [45] demonstrate that religious believers have higher risk perceptions of personal threat from climate change than non-religious people. This means that those individuals who are more religious tend to be less skeptical.…”

“…The impact of perception on climate change sometimes surpasses the experience. Using 2013 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSGS) data (N = 2001), Sun and Han [45]) showed that it is not climate-related disaster experience but climate-related risk awareness that has a significant impact on the perception of global severity or personal impact. Poortinga et al [11] demonstrated that a greater perception of risk is associated with a relative decrease in climate change skepticism.…”