Climate change is leading to an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, posing significant physical and economic risks to the global population, with annual costs estimated at 143 billion USD. Although countries in the Global South are particularly vulnerable, most research to date has focused on the Global North. A large new study, including data from 68 countries and 71,922 participants, looked at the relationship between exposure to these events, subjective attribution of these events to climate change, and support for climate policy.<\/p>\n
Majority support for climate policies<\/strong><\/p>\n The study found that Most people around the world support climate policies<\/strong>Specifically, the following policies were assessed and indexed: increasing taxes on high-carbon foods (e.g. beef), increasing carbon taxes on fossil fuels, expanding public transport infrastructure, increasing the use of sustainable energy (wind and solar), and protecting forests and soil.<\/p>\n The highest support was for protecting forests and soil (82 % strongly support it), followed by increasing the use of sustainable energy (75 % strongly support it). Conversely, carbon taxes on food (22 % strongly support it) and fossil fuels (29 % strongly support it) had the lowest support, which is consistent with previous research.<\/p>\n Average global support for climate policies was 2.37 on a three-point scale<\/strong> (where 1 = not at all, 2 = somewhat, 3 = very much), confirming that a clear majority of people want more political action on climate change. However, regional differences were found, with support particularly high in African and Asian countries, average in Australia, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom, and below the global average in some European countries. Demographic groups more likely to support climate policies included men, younger people, religious people, people with higher education and income, those with a left-wing political orientation, and those living in urban areas.<\/p>\n Subjective attribution of extreme events to climate change<\/strong><\/p>\n Participants rated the extent to which they believed climate change had increased the impact of six types of extreme weather events in their country over the past decades: droughts, heat waves, wildfires, heavy rainfall, floods and severe storms. Globally, it was subjective attribution of extreme events to climate change well above the mean value of the scale<\/strong> (average 3.80 on a five-point scale, where 1 = not at all, 5 = very much).<\/p>\n There were only small differences in subjective attribution between types of extreme events, with heat waves being attributed the most and forest fires the least. The strongest attribution was observed in South American countries, particularly Brazil and Colombia, while the lowest was in Northern European and African countries. The lower attribution in Africa may be related to overall lower awareness and belief in human-caused climate change.<\/p>\n The key influence of subjective attribution, not exposure itself<\/strong><\/p>\n The study yielded a key finding: Subjective attribution of extreme weather events to climate change is positively associated with support for climate policies<\/strong>On the contrary, Population exposure alone to most types of extreme weather events (five out of seven) did not predict policy support<\/strong>This suggests that simply experiencing extreme events may not be enough to increase support for a policy if individuals do not associate these events with climate change.<\/p>\n The exceptions were wildfires, where population exposure positively predicted support for climate policies<\/strong>. However, this relationship weakened after controlling for other variables. Forest fires often cause extensive and visible damage and are associated with health concerns, which may explain their impact on behavior. Conversely, countries more exposed to heavy rainfall were less willing to support climate policies<\/strong>, which may be due to people less often associating these events with climate change.<\/p>\n Complex interactions have also been identified:<\/p>\n Implications and recommendations<\/strong><\/p>\n Overall, the results indicate that subjective attribution could facilitate support for climate policies<\/strong>The study highlights the need for future research focused on effective communication strategies to increase subjective attribution of extreme events to climate change<\/strong>Although the links between extreme events and climate change are increasingly appearing in the media, further research is needed in the field of communication, especially in the Global South.<\/p>\n\n