Do differences in attitudes explain differences in national climate change policies?

Tjernström, Emilia; Tietenberg, Tom

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.06.019

Cited by 203 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…While cross-national studies consistently reported higher concern about climate change among individuals with higher education (Kvaloy et al, 2012;Running, 2013;Tjernstrom and Tietenberg, 2008), in the United States there is evidence of an inverse relationship between education and perceived climate change risks, both for general education (O'Connor, Bard, & Fisher, 1999) and specific science literacy and numeracy (Kahan et al, 2012). Political orientation coupled with disinformation campaign and successful movement by conservative think tanks explain why concern about climate change can be negatively associated with education among American population (Hamilton, 2011;McCright and Dunlap, 2003).…”

Section: Concern About Global Warmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Returns to Education: Does Schooling Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Evidence from Thailand

Chankrajang

Muttarak

2017

Ecological Economics

156

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We investigate whether there are green returns to education, where formal education encourages pro-environmental behaviours using nationally representative surveys on environmental issues in Thailand. To establish the causal relationship between education and green behaviours, we exploit the instrumental variables strategy using the supply of state primary schooling i.e. the corresponding number of teachers per 1000 children, which varies over time and across regions as the instrument, while controlling for regional, cohort and income effects. We find that more years of schooling lead to a greater probability of taking knowledge-based environmentallyfriendly actions a great deal, but not cost-saving pro-environmental actions. In addition, the paper finds no significant impact of formal education on concern about global warming nor the willingness to pay for environmental tax.

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Section: Concern About Global Warmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Returns to Education: Does Schooling Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Evidence from Thailand

Chankrajang

Muttarak

2017

Ecological Economics

156

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“…Individuals play an important role in driving climate change policy and the attitudes, openness and ''information available to individuals'' all shape climate change policy implementation (Tjernström and Tietenberg 2008). Much of the information made available to the general public, however, is derived from non-scientific, subjective sources such as the internet, popular press, and interpersonal communication (McBean and Hengeveld 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the principle objective at the present time in raising awareness of climate change science is to promote policy development and social engagement, there is a need to investigate how opinion correlates to an individual's understanding of climate science or whether his/her opinion is influenced by other factors. According to Sunstein (2006), knowledge of a certain topic will enhance an individual's concern with this topic and according to Tjernström and Tietenberg (2008), unfamiliarity with climate change science is the single largest factor accounting for an individual's motivation to feel concerned about climate change. By utilizing formal education environments, we have an opportunity to assess where the current baseline of climate change science understanding is and how it can be influenced.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opinions and Knowledge About Climate Change Science in High School Students

Harker-Schuch

Henriksen

2013

AMBIO

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This study investigates the influence of knowledge on opinions about climate change in the emerging adults' age group (16-17 years). Furthermore, the effects of a lecture in climate change science on knowledge and opinions were assessed. A survey was conducted in Austria and Denmark on 188 students in national and international schools before and after a lecture in climate change science. The results show that knowledge about climate change science significantly affects opinions about climate change. Students with a higher number of correct answers are more likely to have the opinion that humans are causing climate change and that both individuals and governments are responsible for addressing climate change. The lecture in climate change science significantly improved knowledge development but did not affect opinions. Knowledge was improved by 11 % after the lecture. However, the percentage of correct answers was still below 60 % indicating an urgent need for improving climate change science education.

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“…Differences in age may also affect GHG emissions, because of differences in lifestyles, and so on, and we have therefore decided to include age as a control variable. Education has previously been shown to affect environmental attitudes; we therefore assumed that differences in education could spill over into environmentally relevant behaviors (Tjernström and Tietenberg 2008).…”

Section: Other Socio-economic Variables Included In the Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greenhouse gas emissions and subjective well-being: An analysis of Swedish households

Andersson

Nässén

Larsson

et al. 2014

Ecological Economics

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In the contemporary discussion on society's transformation towards long-term climate targets, it is often implicitly assumed that behavioral changes, unlike technological changes, would lead to reductions in human well-being. However, this assumption has been questioned by researchers, who instead argue that people may live better lives by consuming less and reduce their environmental impact in the process. In this study we explore the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and subjective well-being, using a sample of 1,000 Swedish respondents.Our results show that there is no strong link between an individual's emissions and subjective well-being. We also analyze the relationship between specific emissionintensive activities and subjective well-being and find that none of the activities examined correlates with subjective well-being. Finally, we explore a hypothesis put forward in the literature, suggesting that a poor work-life balance, long commuting distances, and materialistic values may decrease individuals' subjective well-being and increase greenhouse gas emissions. Our results indicate that materialistic values do correlate with lower levels of well-being and to some extent also with higher greenhouse gas emissions.

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Do differences in attitudes explain differences in national climate change policies?

Cited by 203 publications

References 15 publications

Green Returns to Education: Does Schooling Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Evidence from Thailand

Green Returns to Education: Does Schooling Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Evidence from Thailand

Opinions and Knowledge About Climate Change Science in High School Students

Greenhouse gas emissions and subjective well-being: An analysis of Swedish households

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