Peer Pressure Can Help Fight Climate Change

The “scientific framing” presented to the first two groups also had an effect, although not as much. These respondents indicated they would increase their spending on offsets, but the average sum was two-thirds as much as the “peer-framing” groups offered. Those who believed the information came from government experts indicated a greater willingness to increase their spending than those whose information came from unspecified experts—easing, perhaps, concerns that citizens are increasingly skeptical of institutions such as governments, says Weber.

These subtleties are important because individual behavior, at scale, can change the direction of global warming. Households account for almost three-quarters of emissions globally. In Germany, the figure is 63 percent, according to a 2009 analysis by Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Edgar Hertwich and the Center for International Climate Research’s Glen Peters—though the proportion of household emissions that comes from transportation, including air travel, is higher than the global average.

But the study also emphasizes the need for policy makers to think carefully about how they frame their messages. “Successful campaigns to reduce individuals’ carbon footprints cannot purely rely on providing information but also have to find creative ways to reach individuals that normally would not actively search for this information,” the researchers write.

This conclusion stems in part from a follow-up survey conducted later, which gave a new set of survey respondents one of two articles to read about climate change—one that focused on the impact of rising temperatures on landscape and weather, and another that questioned whether humans are responsible.

For respondents who did not already hold strong views about climate change, reading the first article resulted in an increase in what they were willing to pay to offset their own emissions. The readings had no effect, however, on people who had indicated that they were either deeply concerned or relatively unconcerned about global warming.

This aligned with results from the earlier survey, which showed prior beliefs affected respondents’ willingness to pay for carbon offsets in light of expert and peer information. Individuals who had indicated they were concerned about climate change, as well as those who voted for left-of-center political parties in Germany, increased their offsets by a greater degree than the control groups, whereas right-wing voters made no change to their sums, however the information was framed.

Respondents who said they were very concerned about COVID, meanwhile, were less likely to react to the information. As Weber observes, “Maybe you only have the energy to worry about one big issue at a time.”