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Climate change awareness: Empirical evidence for the European Union

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  • Baiardi, Donatella
  • Morana, Claudio

Abstract

In this paper, we assess public attitudes on climate change in Europe over the last decade. Using aggregate figures from the Special Eurobarometer surveys on Climate Change, we find that environmental concern is directly related to per capita income, social trust, secondary education, the physical distress associated with hot weather, media coverage, the share of young people in the total population, and monetary losses caused by extreme weather episodes. It is also inversely related to greenhouse gas emissions, relative power position of right-wing parties in government and tertiary education. Moreover, we find a significant, opposite impact for two dummies for years 2017 and 2019, which we respectively associate with the effects of Donald Trump’s denial campaigns and the U.S. Paris Agreement withdrawal announcement, and Greta Thunberg’s environmental activism.

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  • Baiardi, Donatella & Morana, Claudio, 2021. "Climate change awareness: Empirical evidence for the European Union," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:96:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321000682
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105163
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    Cited by:

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    12. Alessi, Lucia & Battiston, Stefano & Kvedaras, Virmantas, 2021. "Over with carbon? Investors' reaction to the Paris Agreement and the US withdrawal," Working Papers 2021-12, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    13. Christos Karelakis & Zacharias Papanikolaou & Christina Keramopoulou & George Theodossiou, 2024. "Green Growth, Green Development and Climate Change Perceptions: Evidence from a Greek Region," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, July.
    14. Pang, Lidong & Zhu, Meng Nan & Yu, Haiyan, 2022. "Is green finance really a blessing for green technology and carbon efficiency?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    15. Alessi, Lucia & Battiston, Stefano & Kvedaras, Virmantas, 2024. "Over with carbon? Investors’ reaction to the Paris Agreement and the US withdrawal," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    16. Gu, Yan & Ho, Kung-Cheng & Xia, Senmao & Yan, Cheng, 2022. "Do public environmental concerns promote new energy enterprises' development? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    17. Cristina Andreea NICOLAE & Mihai-Ioan ROȘCA, 2021. "Is Climate Change More Serious than International Terrorism? Evidence from European Countries," Journal of Emerging Trends in Marketing and Management, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 1(1), pages 22-30, August.
    18. Donatella Baiardi, 2021. "What do you think about climate change?," Working Paper series 21-16, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    19. Donatella Baiardi, 2021. "What do you think about climate change?," Working Papers 477, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2021.
    20. Luzzati, Tommaso & Tucci, Ilaria & Guarnieri, Pietro, 2022. "Information overload and environmental degradation: Learning from H.A. Simon and W. Wenders," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    21. Luan Santos & Karl Steininger & Marcelle Candido Cordeiro & Johanna Vogel, 2022. "Current Status and Future Perspectives of Carbon Pricing Research in Austria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-28, August.
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    25. L. Ende & M.-A. Reinhard & L. Göritz, 2023. "Detecting Greenwashing! The Influence of Product Colour and Product Price on Consumers’ Detection Accuracy of Faked Bio-fashion," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 155-189, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate change; Environmental attitudes/concern; Mitigation policy; EU;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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