Message framing, environmental behaviour and support for carbon capture and storage in Australia

Abstract

In Australia, the polarised debate over the pace and scale of change necessary to mitigate climate change has been exacerbated by inconsistent federal government policies which are seen to hinder the transition to a low carbon energy future. This includes the way in which particular energy technologies have been framed within the debate, with potential effects on public support for a given technology. This paper presents the results of a study that examined question order framing effects on support for a range of energy technologies across a nationally representative survey of the Australian public. It was hypothesised that this experimental manipulation would allow us to better understand how the salience of different frames may lead to shifts in individuals’ preferences for various energy technologies. Four different experimental frames were developed covering the following topics: knowledge; cost and reliability; climate change: and energy behaviours. Overall, our results demonstrated that such question order effects can impact support for the range of different options. The energy behaviours frame demonstrated an increase in overall levels of support for nearly all energy technologies and was the only frame that significantly increased overall levels of support for CCS. Consistent with prior research, overall support for renewable energy technologies remained highest. However, the frames led to unexpected outcomes in their impacts on expressed support. While the reasons for these responses are not clear, this study highlights an important consideration for ongoing survey research into the effects of question sequencing and priming around topic salience.