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Climate change awareness: Empirical evidence for the European Union

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  • Donatella Baiardi
  • Claudio Morana

Abstract

In this paper, we assess public attitudes on climate change in Europe over the last decade. Using aggregate Â…gures from the Special Eurobarometer surveys on Climate Change, we Â…nd 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 signiÂ…cant, opposite impact for two dummies for years 2017 and 2019, which we respectively associate with the effects of Donald TrumpÂ’s denial campaigns and the U.S. Paris Agreement withdrawal announcement, and Greta ThunbergÂ’s environmental activism.

Suggested Citation

  • Donatella Baiardi & Claudio Morana, 2020. "Climate change awareness: Empirical evidence for the European Union," Working Papers 426, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:mib:wpaper:426
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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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