Uncertainty about Carbon Impact and the Willingness to Avoid CO₂ Emissions

Pace, D. Davide; Imai, Taisuke; Schwardmann, Peter; Weele, van der Joël J.

Uncertainty about Carbon Impact and the Willingness to Avoid CO₂ Emissions

Pace, D. Davide; Imai, Taisuke; Schwardmann, Peter et al.

Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers, 2023, 1227, 1-21

Number of Access:99（2025-06-13 09:58 Counts）

Identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11094/93496

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Title	Uncertainty about Carbon Impact and the Willingness to Avoid CO₂ Emissions
Creator	CreatorName Pace, D. Davide
	NRID 1000080971960 1000080971960 ORCID 0000-0002-0610-8093 0000-0002-0610-8093 researchmap permalink taisuke_imai taisuke_imai Scopus Author ID 57191989273 57191989273 CreatorName Imai, Taisuke
	CreatorName Schwardmann, Peter
	CreatorName Weele, van der Joël J.
Abstract	With a large representative survey (N = 1, 128), we document that consumers are very uncertain about the emissions associated with various actions, which may affect their willingness to reduce their carbon footprint. We experimentally test two channels for the behavioural impact of such uncertainty, namely risk aversion about the impact of mitigating actions and the formation of motivated beliefs about this impact. In two large online experiments (N = 2, 219), participants make incentivized trade-offs between personal gain and (uncertain) carbon impact. We find no evidence that uncertainty affects individual climate change mitigation efforts through risk aversion or motivated belief channels. The results suggest that reducing consumer uncertainty through information campaigns is not a policy panacea and that communicating scientific uncertainty around climate impact need not backfire.
Publisher	The Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
Source Title	Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers
Volume (Issue)	1227
Page	1-21
Date of Issued	2023-12
Language	English
Handle URL	https://hdl.handle.net/11094/93496
PISSN	0473453X
eISSN	24350982
Relation.references	URI https://www.iser.osaka-u.ac.jp/static/resources/docs/dp/2023/DP1227.pdf
Access Rights	metadata only access
Category	ディスカッション／ワーキング・ペーパー DP/WP
Category	Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers

Resource Type	technical report
Local Type	DP/WP
DCMI Type	Text
DCTERMS.bibliographicCitation	Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers. 2023, 1227, p. 1-21
DC.title	Uncertainty about Carbon Impact and the Willingness to Avoid CO₂ Emissions
DC.creator	Pace, D. Davide
	Imai, Taisuke
	Schwardmann, Peter
	Weele, van der Joël J.
DC.publisher	The Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
DC.language' scheme='DCTERMS.RFC1766	English
DC.type' scheme='DCTERMS.DCMIType	Text
DCTERMS.issued' scheme='DCTERMS.W3CDTF	2023-12
DC.relation' scheme='DCTERMS.URI	https://www.iser.osaka-u.ac.jp/static/resources/docs/dp/2023/DP1227.pdf
DCTERMS.abstract	With a large representative survey (N = 1, 128), we document that consumers are very uncertain about the emissions associated with various actions, which may affect their willingness to reduce their carbon footprint. We experimentally test two channels for the behavioural impact of such uncertainty, namely risk aversion about the impact of mitigating actions and the formation of motivated beliefs about this impact. In two large online experiments (N = 2, 219), participants make incentivized trade-offs between personal gain and (uncertain) carbon impact. We find no evidence that uncertainty affects individual climate change mitigation efforts through risk aversion or motivated belief channels. The results suggest that reducing consumer uncertainty through information campaigns is not a policy panacea and that communicating scientific uncertainty around climate impact need not backfire.
DC.format	93496
citation_title	Uncertainty about Carbon Impact and the Willingness to Avoid CO₂ Emissions
citation_author	Pace, D. Davide
	Imai, Taisuke
	Schwardmann, Peter
	Weele, van der Joël J.
citation_publisher	The Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
citation_language	English
citation_date	2023-12
citation_journal_title	Institute of Social and Economic Research Discussion Papers
citation_volume	1227
citation_firstpage	1
citation_lastpage	21
citation_public_url	https://hdl.handle.net/11094/93496
citation_abstract_html_url	https://www.iser.osaka-u.ac.jp/static/resources/docs/dp/2023/DP1227.pdf

Uncertainty about Carbon Impact and the Willingness to Avoid CO₂ Emissions

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