JPI Climate: European Perceptions of Climate Change
Lead Research Organisation:
Cardiff University
Department Name: Sch of Psychology
Abstract
Public engagement with climate change, and support for policies to tackle it, is critical in creating a climate-proof Europe. While attitudes to climate change have been well documented in individual European countries, their designs have never been coordinated. Also, each nation has its own unique sociopolitical context and energy infrastructure that need to be taken into account to make meaningful comparisons. There is an urgent need to connect the within-country knowledge that does exist, conduct rigorous cross-national research, and synthesise public perceptions at a European level.
In a two year project involving an inter-disciplinary team from the UK, Germany, Norway and France, we will address this need through: directly comparable and nationally representative surveys of public opinion (approximately 1,000 interviews in each country); an in-depth analyses of the sociopolitical context in each participating nation; and an innovative international stakeholder panel for co-constructing the sociopolitical analyses and disseminating findings.
Whilst there have been some ad-hoc surveys of European public opinion, no theoretically well-justified cross-national analysis of climate change and energy perceptions has ever been conducted. The project will ground the survey findings in sociopolitical factors relevant to public perceptions, allowing robust international comparisons, and producing a detailed and rich source of knowledge for policy-makers. Outputs will include cross-national data on climate change and energy preferences and a series of recommendations for enhancing public engagement with climate change.
We will take an innovative approach to stakeholder engagement. An international panel will co-construct the socio-political analysis that informs the survey design, and will then play a central role in a coordinated programme of dissemination and outreach. This will ensure that the project has the maximum possible impact and contributes essential knowledge in the transition towards a climate-proof Europe.
In a two year project involving an inter-disciplinary team from the UK, Germany, Norway and France, we will address this need through: directly comparable and nationally representative surveys of public opinion (approximately 1,000 interviews in each country); an in-depth analyses of the sociopolitical context in each participating nation; and an innovative international stakeholder panel for co-constructing the sociopolitical analyses and disseminating findings.
Whilst there have been some ad-hoc surveys of European public opinion, no theoretically well-justified cross-national analysis of climate change and energy perceptions has ever been conducted. The project will ground the survey findings in sociopolitical factors relevant to public perceptions, allowing robust international comparisons, and producing a detailed and rich source of knowledge for policy-makers. Outputs will include cross-national data on climate change and energy preferences and a series of recommendations for enhancing public engagement with climate change.
We will take an innovative approach to stakeholder engagement. An international panel will co-construct the socio-political analysis that informs the survey design, and will then play a central role in a coordinated programme of dissemination and outreach. This will ensure that the project has the maximum possible impact and contributes essential knowledge in the transition towards a climate-proof Europe.
Planned Impact
An integral part of the proposed research is an international stakeholder panel that will ensure that the projects builds links and contacts with international stakeholder networks from the very beginning. In addition, co-production of knowledge is key, as the stakeholder panel will co-produce both the within-country socio-political analyses and the survey design. We describe the four key routes by which non-academic beneficiaries will be engaged in and benefit from the proposed research in the Pathways To Impact attachment. Here we address the questions of who will benefit from the research and how
Who will benefit from the research?
Throughout the project we will seek to directly engage key policy and civil society stakeholders who are in a position to influence and guide public opinion towards support for a climate proof Europe. In particular, the within-country socio-political analyses and the design of the survey will be subject to critique and input from an international stakeholder panel, which will also be involved in the dissemination of the research. The stakeholder panel will be comprised of 8-10 high-calibre policy actors, civil society voices and other key relevant voices, drawn from across Europe. We have already obtained letters of support from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Green Alliance, and European Climate Foundation. Because key international stakeholders will be engaged from the outset, and involved in the co-creation of significant aspects of the project, we will have primed impactful routes of dissemination.
We will also seek to engage the wider public through interactive social media (e.g. Twitter, discussion blogs) will be used to make the findings available to the wider public, where it is free to be read, discussed, and used. We will hold a series of 'webinars', which stakeholders and members of the public who are not able to attend the Brussels launch event (or national launch events) can participate in for free and without carbon-impact.
How will they benefit?
The international stakeholders who are directly engaged (and importantly, their wider networks) will benefit from priority access to the first systematic, theoretically grounded cross-national comparison of public perceptions of climate change. Ambitious targets for a climate-proof Europe require sustained and widespread public support in order to achieve them, as they can only be met with fundamental shifts in energy production and significant reductions in energy demand. Societal transformation in response to climate change thus rests crucially on the support of the electorate, and knowledge about this support will be invaluable for the stakeholders who seek to facilitate this transformation.
The stakeholders will also benefit by being directly involved in the co-production of the design of the research, permitting a range of their interests and concerns to be represented.
Who will benefit from the research?
Throughout the project we will seek to directly engage key policy and civil society stakeholders who are in a position to influence and guide public opinion towards support for a climate proof Europe. In particular, the within-country socio-political analyses and the design of the survey will be subject to critique and input from an international stakeholder panel, which will also be involved in the dissemination of the research. The stakeholder panel will be comprised of 8-10 high-calibre policy actors, civil society voices and other key relevant voices, drawn from across Europe. We have already obtained letters of support from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Green Alliance, and European Climate Foundation. Because key international stakeholders will be engaged from the outset, and involved in the co-creation of significant aspects of the project, we will have primed impactful routes of dissemination.
We will also seek to engage the wider public through interactive social media (e.g. Twitter, discussion blogs) will be used to make the findings available to the wider public, where it is free to be read, discussed, and used. We will hold a series of 'webinars', which stakeholders and members of the public who are not able to attend the Brussels launch event (or national launch events) can participate in for free and without carbon-impact.
How will they benefit?
The international stakeholders who are directly engaged (and importantly, their wider networks) will benefit from priority access to the first systematic, theoretically grounded cross-national comparison of public perceptions of climate change. Ambitious targets for a climate-proof Europe require sustained and widespread public support in order to achieve them, as they can only be met with fundamental shifts in energy production and significant reductions in energy demand. Societal transformation in response to climate change thus rests crucially on the support of the electorate, and knowledge about this support will be invaluable for the stakeholders who seek to facilitate this transformation.
The stakeholders will also benefit by being directly involved in the co-production of the design of the research, permitting a range of their interests and concerns to be represented.
Publications
Bertoldo R
(2019)
Scientific truth or debate: On the link between perceived scientific consensus and belief in anthropogenic climate change.
in Public understanding of science (Bristol, England)
Brügger A
(2021)
Public Perceptions of Climate Change in the Peruvian Andes
in Sustainability
Doran R
(2018)
Consequence evaluations and moral concerns about climate change: insights from nationally representative surveys across four European countries
in Journal of Risk Research
Sonnberger M
(2021)
Climate concerned but anti-nuclear: Exploring (dis)approval of nuclear energy in four European countries
in Energy Research & Social Science
| Description | European Perceptions of Climate Change (EPCC) was a highly successful international collaborative research project yielding extensive comparative data from 4,048 individuals on their attitudes towards climate change, climate policy and related issues, and energy options collected in 2016 in France, Germany, Norway and the UK. Within Europe EPCC represents a unique contemporary social sciences survey on this topic. Cardiff University School of Psychology led the project, collaborating with partners in key research institutions in Paris, Bergen and Stuttgart. Climate Outreach in Oxford worked with us as our impact partner. The project yielded a report on the socio-political profile in each of the four collaborating countries to aid in survey design and data interpretation, the calibrated questionnaire survey translated into four languages, associated survey data with samples of 1000 drawn from each country, a key findings report, and a policy report with recommendations for public engagement. We wish to highlight four key achievements of the project. (1) The Survey Instrument Development in English, French, German and Norwegian. The survey design took some 12 months to complete, also with extensive stakeholder input (co-construction). Eventually the survey contained 35 items spanning attitudes to climate change, policy responses, energy beliefs, socio-demographics and items on value orientations. The translation phase was critical to ensure a high quality instrument, being developed in English and subsequently double translated into German, Norwegian and French by two teams of native speakers. The project team then compared the two translations to identify inconsistencies, and checked finally against the original English version. The instrument and comparable items in English, German, French and Norwegian is now a major resource for use by researchers who wish to collect comparative data in any of these four languages at any time in the future. (2) European's Beliefs about Climate Change are Informed but not Alarmed. The EPCC survey showed that scepticism about the reality of climate change is not very widespread in the surveyed countries comprising at most 16% across the four samples, and that a clear majority think that climate change is at least partly caused by human activity. While we had anticipated higher levels of scepticism in the UK than in either France, Germany or Norway, the survey results show somewhat higher levels of scepticism in the UK, but also in Germany, as compared to both Norway and France. Despite climate change being perceived in the past as a distant threat, the current EPCC findings indicate that it is now viewed by many as an immediate threat to themselves and to people similar to themselves. However, this widespread temporal and social closeness to climate change appears to exist in parallel with a prevalent view that climate change will mostly affect other countries. Consistent with earlier studies, our results also indicate that while most people in all four countries are to some extent worried about climate change, very few express high levels of worry. This moderate level of concern about climate change, together with the widespread view that climate change is a relatively close threat that is nonetheless likely to be worse for distant others, paints a picture of informed but not alarmed European publics. However, we also find that, consistent with research from the USA and Australia, many in our samples do not recognise the very high degree of consensus that currently exists within the scientific community regarding the reality of climate change; a finding with considerable significance for UK and European climate scientists and policy makers. The EPCC survey also included two questions probing respondents' views on climate change and migration for the very first time. While in all four countries a majority disputed any link between climate change and the 2016 refugee crisis in Europe, about one third of respondents (and one half in Norway) did think that climate change will lead to more migration to their own country in the future. (3) There is Strong Support for many Policies to Address Climate Change. These included support for subsidies for renewable energy sources or home insulation, and spending money on national adaptation strategies. Green taxes or levies to pay for policies were by contrast less popular. High levels of support were found for the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and for sanctions for countries that refuse to be part of this international climate change agreement. Across Norway, Germany, France and the UK our data shows that renewable energy sources, such as solar power, hydropower, biomass and onshore and offshore wind power, are viewed very positively in all four countries, while oil and in particular coal were perceived least positively. Opinions about nuclear power were more differentiated across the four countries, with as expected more positive opinions in the UK as compared to Germany, Norway and even France. Our question about hydraulic fracturing (fracking) revealed a consistent pattern across all countries: a relatively high number of respondents were unable to express an opinion on the issue, and, of those who did, fewer than 20% were positive about this approach to energy generation. (4) The Study has yielded Recommendations for Public Engagement. These include the following. (i) That climate change is getting closer to home for many Europeans so connect with people's experiences and expectations around impacts such as extreme weather. (ii) Since adaptation policies appear uncontroversial, policy should build on this to talk about different types of climate measures (not just mitigation). (iii) That support for renewable energy is consistently high, and hence policy needs to emphasise the social consensus on climate change to build a sense of momentum. |
| Exploitation Route | The EPCC survey provides baseline and comparative data that should help researchers and a range of national and international stakeholders and policymakers to understand the structure of current attitudes to climate change in the countries surveyed. Through this process we would expect a closer dialogue on climate change issues to be facilitated between European citizens and climate scientists, businesses, governments, and representatives of the non-governmental sector. We would expect the survey itself to be followed up by future repeat (tracking) and novel (theoretical) studies of climate and climate policy beliefs in the countries concerned possibly using one or more of the items that we have developed, and for which the translated questionnaire instrument provides a ready-made tool. As well as the planned academic publications of the EPCC research team, the findings of the study are likely to be incorporated in future secondary analyses of climate beliefs conducted by other international research teams. The study will also form the platform for future research efforts on this topic by the collaborating international research teams. |
| Sectors | Energy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://orca.cf.ac.uk/98660/ |
| Description | There has been extensive interest externally in the study and its findings. Key findings were launched by Cardiff University and debated at a meeting held at the Royal Society in London on 8th March 2017. As a 4 nation JPI study (UK, Germany, France, Norway), this London meeting was successfully webcast live, also being fed to simultaneous satellite meetings for German and Norwegian stakeholders and press in Berlin and Bergen, a first for the research groups involved. The London meeting was attended by an audience of over 60 representing academia, UK government departments, environmental NGOs, and business. In Norway the satellite meeting was attended by 35 stakeholders, and in Germany by members of the Press. A subsequent launch meeting for French stakeholders was held in Paris on the 29th March attended by 30 academics, high-level climate policy actors and members of the public. The project has provided a platform for a follow on grant under the UKRI/NERC Climate Resilience Programme. Comparative data from the both the current and new awards was used at a launch of a major report on climate risk perceptons at the Royal Society, London, 3 March 2020. Major additional media coverage of the findings and change between 2016-2019 was obtained. The policy report of findings (see outputs) was also published on 8th March 2017 and is hosted by the Cardiff University open access ORCA repository - during its first month (March 2017) it was downloaded 3,178 times. At the time of writing July 2018 it had been downloaded a total of 8,730 times with ongoing downloads still running at over 250 per month. A pre-meeting press launch at the Science Media Centre in London, as well as the satellite meetings, helped to generate varied online stories about the findings, typically on 8th March or shortly thereafter in Carbon Brief, Bloomberg, New Scientist, Reuters, the Press Association, BBC Wales, the Guardian, Climate Central, ZMEScience and the Daily Mail. The satellite meetings held in Germany and Norway and also generated substantial media coverage in their respective countries including (in Germany) Klimaretter, Tagesspiegel, Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten, Global Magazin, Check24 and Ökonews and (in Norway) the major regional daily newspaper Bergens Tidende. Subsequent to this the findings have been presented to multiple stakeholder organizations and at conferences including the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (London), Behavioural Insights Unit (London), Welsh Government (Cardiff), OECD International Energy Agency (Paris), COP23 (UN Conference of the Parties) Bonn, UNESCO Science Diplomacy Offices, the Society for Risk Analysis International (USA) Conference, Society for Risk Analysis Europe and Nordic Chapter Conferences, UK Met Office (Exeter), and the American Political Science Association. As proposed in the JPI-Climate grant application our non-academic partners (Climate Outreach, Oxford) and the project team held a 1/2 day workshop in London in March 2017 to bring together over 30 stakeholders, academics and consultants from across the UK working on the issue of climate communication. This workshop led to the publication in July 2017 by Climate Outreach of a workshop report intended as a resource for practitioners summarising key lessons learned for engaging people with climate change: ''EPCC: six recommendations for public engagement' (see outputs) with 300 downloads to date from the Cardiff University ORCA website, and more via the Climate Outreach website. The findings of the survey have also been used directly as background evidence in an influential guide on climate communications prepared by Climate Outreach for the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (see https://climateoutreach.org/resources/ipcc-communications-handbook). In summary - in terms of engaging a variety of relevant academic and non-academic audiences across the 4 European countries involved (and wider), this has been an extraordinarily successful research project. The combined JPI funding has allowed for far greater impact reach across Europe than could have been achieved by any one national team working alone. The direct policy impact of any research is difficult to gauge directly and evidence for this often only emerges over the longer term, but we know already that the project and its findings has been influential in informing climate policy at national government level and within the respective European business and NGO communities, and we expect this influence to continue over time particularly given the exposure of the research within the IPCC. The project had very extensive and enthusiastic engagement at the time with the key European stakeholders comprising our stakeholder advisory panel, and the findings have also been discussed extensively with European and North American academics. Academics in other countries (Japan, Lithuania) have replicated parts of the survey, which may eventually lead to joint academic and/or policy publications. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Energy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Briefing for Welsh Senedd Climate Change andd Evironment Committee |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | Gave expert evidence to, and joined Expert Reference group for, Wales Senedd Environment and Climate Change Committee to further their work in scrutinising Welsh Government climate change policy. |
| Description | Evidence given to BEIS roundtable with Nick Hurd (Minister) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | Pidgeon attended a roundtable review meeting for Nick Hurd (BEIS Minister responsible for UK climate policy) in February 2017 to brief him on ourt RCUK work on climate change public engagement and energy system change. |
| Description | Innovate UK Working group on Public Engagement with Energy System Change |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | Pidgeon and Demski are members of a group m,eeting 2016-2017 convened by Innovate UK (C3T) and involving BEIS, Defra and Scottish Government to explore proposals for engaging the public with the energy system transition. |
| Description | Member of DEFRA Social Sciences sub-group for its Science Advisory Council |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Since 2016 Pidgeon is member of the DEFRA Social Sciences sub-group for DEFRA Science Advisory Council. Various advice given on sustainability, climate change and energy policy. |
| Description | Centre for Climate Change Transformations (C3T) |
| Amount | £4,903,413 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/S012257/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2019 |
| End | 04/2024 |
| Description | Understanding UK Perceptions of Climate Risk and Resilience (RESILRISK) |
| Amount | £212,954 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/S016449/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2019 |
| End | 01/2020 |
| Title | EPCC full climate attitudes data set (UK, Germany, France, Norway) |
| Description | SN 8325 - Public Perceptions of Climate Change across Four European Countries: United Kingdom, France, Germany and Norway, 2016. This data set (n=1000 in each country) is now lodged in the UK data archive service on an open access basis to registered users. Managed by: collections@ukdataservice.ac.uk |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Open access of data for use by international researchers and policy makers, NGOs and business. |
| URL | https://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/?sn=8325&type=Data%20catalogue |
| Description | EPCC Results Launch, Bergen Norway |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Streamed video talk, debate, local presentation of nationally relevant (Norwegian) results of cross-Europe survey |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Participation in two survey results launch events, IEA Paris and an open policy meeting at SYMLOG Paris, 29 March 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | EPCC Survey results launch, Paris at two meetings held on the same day. 1) at the International Energy Agency, and 2) at an open meeting for French policy makers organised by SYMLOG Paris |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Press conference at Science Media Centre of topline report of European Perceptions of Climate Change Project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Press briefing at Science Media Centre to announce major launch event and workshop of findings and topline report of European Perceptions of Climate Change Project. Press coverage of findings on 8 March 2017 obtained in Daily Mail, Guardian, Bloomberg, BT news, CNN, New Scientist, Reuters, and BBC Wales (radio interview) as well as simultaneously in media outlets in Germany, Norway and France. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Results Launch Meeting: European Perceptions of Climate Change Project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Major launch event and workshop of findings and topline report of European Perceptions of Climate Change Project. Over 80 participants drawn from government (BEIS, DEFRA, UK Climate Change Committee etc), the NGO sector (Greenpeace, Green Alliance, Carbon Brief, European Climate Foundation, Energy for Humanity) and business (Aldersgate Group, Internatonal Energy Agency, Centrica, Energy UK). Held at the Royal Society in London and webcast live to parallel meetings in Potsdam and in Bergen, as well as elswhere in Europe and around the globe. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Survey launch at Institute for Advances Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany, 8 March 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Surevy results launch and debale for German media. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Talks on the EPCC results to policymakers at UK Business Innovation and Industrial Strategy ministery, and at the UK Behavioural Insights Unit. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | We gave invited talks on the EPCC results to policymakers at the UK Business Innovation and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) ministry, and at the UK Behavioural Insights Unit, both based in London. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |