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Balancing climate change mitigation and national adaptation: Experimental evidence on the influence of risk perceptions and information construal levels

Author

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  • Heckenhahn, Jonas
  • Feldhaus, Christoph
  • Löschel, Andreas

Abstract

Climate change can be addressed by mitigation and adaptation approaches at the national policy level. Since only limited resources are available for both strategies, it is key to unravel how ongoing climate developments and their communication influence the population's preferences regarding the question 'adaptation or mitigation?' Based on construal level theory and the construal matching premise, we hypothesize that when individuals are faced with an abstract tradeoff between mitigation and national adaptation, a larger national short-term risk perception extends prioritization of national adaptation measures, whereas an amplified global long-term risk perception or a lifted construal level of presented climate risks increases mitigation emphasis. To explore these hypotheses, we conducted an online framed field information experiment with a German population sample of 2,182 participants and find evidence for the hypothesized causal effects by conducting OLS regressions and mediator analyses. We argue for reevaluating current climate communication's emphasis on psychologically close damages, as this approach may push people towards favoring adaptation strategies over essential mitigation measures and could thus entail undesirable side effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Heckenhahn, Jonas & Feldhaus, Christoph & Löschel, Andreas, 2024. "Balancing climate change mitigation and national adaptation: Experimental evidence on the influence of risk perceptions and information construal levels," Ruhr Economic Papers 1090, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:300566
    DOI: 10.4419/96973267
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate change mitigation; climate change adaptation; national adaptation strategies; psychological distance; construal level theory; risk perception; climate communication; information experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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