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12/09/2014 | Pressemitteilung

Climate protection: belief in just climate summits reduces own willingness to act

People who think that climate negotiations such as those currently taking place in Lima are particularly fair are less likely to do something personally to protect the climate - this is the result of an empirical study by a team of researchers from Kassel and Karlsruhe that is surprising at first glance. In principle, however, many people are willing to change their habits for the benefit of the climate.

The team led by Kassel-based economist Prof. Dr. Andreas Ziegler surveyed more than 2,000 Americans and Germans for the study. In the online survey, the participants indicated, among other things, whether they consider international climate policy to be important and whether they think that each country can represent its interests equally in climate conferences. In addition, participants were asked about their consumption behavior. The focus was on measures that contribute to climate protection: for example, buying a fuel-efficient car or eating less meat and dairy products. Prof. Ziegler, Head of the Department of Empirical Economic Research at the University of Kassel, summarizes the results as follows: "Those who consider international climate policy to be fundamentally important also want to do more personally for climate protection. If, on the other hand, people believe that all countries can bring their interests equally to bear in climate conferences, they are prepared to take climate protection measures to a lesser extent." This correlation is particularly strong in the U.S., but in Germany it is only clearly discernible for energy-saving measures at home. The study's findings say nothing about the direction of the correlation. "We only find clear correlations here. Causal effects should be investigated in further studies," says Ziegler.

 

Willingness to limit consumption of meat or dairy products is lowest

In both Germany and the U.S., the willingness to implement future energy-saving measures in the house or apartment is highest (87 percent and 81 percent, respectively). 84 percent (Germany) and 78 percent (USA) can also imagine purchasing energy-saving household appliances, and 71 percent (Germany) and 67 percent (USA) can imagine buying a fuel-efficient car. 62 percent (Germany) and 50 percent (USA) are prepared to switch to renewable energies. By contrast, only 50 percent of Germans and only 42 percent of Americans can imagine eating less animal-based food. The study revealed further interesting results: For example, there is no indication that the number of children has an effect on the willingness to commit to climate-friendly measures. Age also had no significant influence. In contrast, women were slightly more open to personal climate protection measures than men, and more highly educated participants were more open than people with a low level of education. Incidentally, whether a participant believed that decisions made at a climate summit would actually be implemented had no measurable influence.

Ziegler sees the results of the study as a good starting point for political decisions: "On the one hand, it also seems useful for the implementation of global climate agreements at the national level, in which voluntary climate protection measures play an important role, to campaign for greater acceptance of international climate policy. At the same time, policymakers should consider how they can compensate for the fact that voluntary climate protection activities may decline if climate negotiations are made more equitable - which is, after all, desirable in principle." Claudia Schwirplies, research associate at the Department of Empirical Economics, adds: "Financial incentives or the strengthening of social norms or the awareness of doing something good are possible options. These factors have been identified in additional studies as particularly conducive to climate-conscious consumer behavior."

The survey involved the online participation of 1010 U.S. residents and 1005 Germans aged 18 and older. It took place in May and June 2013; the results have now been published. In addition to the Kassel team, Prof. Dr. Joachim Schleich from the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Karlsruhe was also involved in the survey and analysis. The study is part of the research project "The importance of voluntary contributions and fairness preferences for the success of international climate policy" (VolFair), which is coordinated by the University of Kassel. Cooperation partners besides ISI are the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and the University of Hamburg. VolFair is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the funding program "Economics of Climate Change".

The study is available at http://goo.gl/mAKYzZ

 

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Andreas Ziegler
University of Kassel
FB 7 - Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Fachgebiet Empirische Wirtschaftsforschung
Tel.: 0561 804-3038
E-Mail: andreas.ziegler@uni-kassel.de