Intention to change activities that reduce carbon dioxide emissions related to worry about global climate change consequences

Abstract

IntroductionMitigating the global climate change requires actions at different levels including that lay people change their consumption patterns, which cause emissions of greenhouse gases. Recent research suggests that inducing affects such as fear and worry may have positive effects. ObjectiveTo investigate whether worry in addition to personalized information about emissions of carbon dioxide would influence lay people's intentions to change consumption-related personal activities causing carbon-dioxide emissions. MethodA municipality-provided tool to calculate their annual carbon dioxide emissions was used by 135 university students who after being informed about negative consequences of global climate change stated their intentions to change a number of personal activities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during the following 12 months. They also rated how worried they were about eight global climate change consequences. ResultsIntentions to change travel, energy use at home, food consumption, involvement in environmental organizations, and support of environmental policies increased with worry. An interaction was also observed such that high-emitters’ intentions to invest in energy-efficient infrastructure increased more with worry than did low- and medium-emitters’ intentions. ConclusionsIn line with recent research positing that affect increases preventive actions, the hypothesis was supported that intentions to change personal activities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions increased with participants’ worry about the consequences of global climate change.