Muttarak r 20150708_1730_upmc_jussieu_-_room_101_(building_14-24)

Believing, Belonging

and Behaving: Exploring mismatch between

climate change perceptions and

individual mitigation behaviours

Raya Muttarak [email protected]

Our Common Future Under Climate Change,

Paris, Session 2240, 8th July 2015

Background

• Lifestyles and consumption patterns are

closely related to GHG producing sectors

• 60% of total GHG emission in the EU came

from residential, transportation and energy

sectors (European Commission 2014)

• Individual behavioural change is a quick

option in emission reduction

• What are underlying barriers to behavioural

change?

Integrated 3Bs model for assessing factors

determining mitigation behaviours

Individual

mitigation and

adaptation

behaviours

Macro level

factors - Technological

availability

- Climate policy

- Country socio-

demographic

characteristics

- Media

Meso level

factors - Social networks

- Social capital

- Community socio-

demographic

characteristics

- Risk exposure

- Values

- Knowledge

Individual

factors - Socio-

demographic

characteristics

e.g., age,

gender,

education,

income

Belonging

Environmental factors - Temperature, Rainfall, Extreme weather events

Climate change beliefs

Data

• Eurobarometer surveys 2008, 2009, 2011,

2013 (n=111,648)

• Multi-stage random probability sampling

• 27 EU member states + Croatia, Turkey,

Macedonia

• ~ 1,000 respondents per country

• Adults aged ≥15 years

Outcomes of interest

1. Climate change perception

“How serious a problem do you think climate

change is at this moment?” (scale 1-10)

2. Taking mitigation actions

“Do you totally agree, tend to agree, tend to

disagree or totally disagree that you personally

have taken actions aimed at helping to fight

climate change?” (0,1)

3. Specific actions taken (0,1)

Fig 1: Relationship between climate change

concern and undertaking mitigation actions

AT

BE

BG

CY

CZ

DE

DK

EE

ES

FI

FR

GBGR

HU

IE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL

PL

PT

RO

SESI

SK

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

% t

akin

g m

itig

ation

actio

n

50 60 70 80 90

% perceiving climate change as a very serious problem

Low concern, High action High concern, High action

Low concern, Low action

High concern, Low action

Fig.2: % taking mitigation actions by gender

64 64

53

41

29 31 26 28

19 21

9 8 6 3

70 67

60

48

36 33

31 27

16 19

10 7

5 3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80 Male

Female

Fig.3: % using fuel-efficient car

AT

BE

BG

CY

CZDE

DK

EE

ES

FI

FR

GB

GR

HR

HU

IE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL PL

PT

RO

SE

SI

SK

30% up

20-29%

10-19%

0-9%

%Using efficient car

Fig.4: % separating waste for recycling

AT

BE

BG

CY

CZDE

DK

EE

ES

FI

FR

GB

GR

HR

HU

IE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL PL

PT

RO

SE

SI

SK

80-100%

60-79%

40-59%

20-39%

0-19%

%Recycling

Fig.5: % installing equipment generating

renewable energy

AT

BE

BG

CY

CZDE

DK

EE

ES

FI

FR

GB

GR

HR

HU

IE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL PL

PT

RO

SE

SI

SK

8% up

6-7.9%

4-5.9%

2-3.9%

0-1.9%

%Using renewable energy

Fig.6: % taking mitigation actions by concern

about climate change

61

40

29

58

48

25 26

8

29

21 17

7 5 3

69

46

33

65

55

30 27

10

33

19 17

7 5 3

70

48

35

69

64

31 28

10

34

20 17

7 5 3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80No concern

Concerned

Very concerned

Fig.7

% using fuel-efficient car by concern about

climate change

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

No concern Concerned Very concerned

Men

Primary Secondary Tertiary

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

No concern Concerned Very concerned

Women

Primary Secondary Tertiary

Next steps…

• Question remains:

- What factors matter in promoting behaviours?

• Multilevel-model with country random

intercept

- 14% between-country variance

- Women, older age, higher education, married,

children in household, satisfied with life,

manager/white collar take more mitigation actions

• Need to consider macro-level factors

- Climate variability, macro-economic conditions,

climate and environmental policies

THANK YOU