Abstract
This paper explores whether efficacy beliefs can alter the relationship between worry about climate change and personal energy-saving behaviors, controlling for climate change beliefs and socio-demographics. For this purpose, we used data from 23 countries that participated in the European Social Survey Round 8 (N = 44 387). Worry about climate change, personal efficacy, personal outcome expectancy, and collective outcome expectancy were each associated with personal energy-saving behaviors concerning either energy curtailment or energy efficiency. The results further show that outcome expectancies moderate the association between worry about climate change and both types of energy behaviors. Worry was more strongly related to energy curtailment behaviors among those with high levels of personal and collective outcome expectancy. A similar pattern was found for energy efficiency behaviors, which were more strongly predicted by worry about climate change when combined with high levels of collective outcome expectancy. These findings are relevant for climate change communication, especially informational campaigns aiming to lower overall household energy use.
Highlights
In December 2019, the European Commission proposed the European Green Deal as part of a long-term strategy to move towards a circular economy, and eventually reach the goal of netzero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions no later than 2050 [1]
The goal of the current paper is twofold: (i) to establish the relative importance of worry about climate change for explaining self-reported energy curtailment and energy efficiency behaviors, controlling for efficacy beliefs, climate change beliefs, and socio-demographics; (ii) to test whether the relationship between worry about climate change and personal energy-saving behaviors varies as a function of believing that one can perform the behavior, that it is likely that a large number of people will perform the behavior, and that this would mitigate climate change either through individual action and/or through group action
About 80% answered above the midpoint of the 11-point scale when asked how likely they are to buy energy-efficient appliances, with 27% answering at the endpoint (“extremely likely”)
Summary
In December 2019, the European Commission proposed the European Green Deal as part of a long-term strategy to move towards a circular economy, and eventually reach the goal of netzero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions no later than 2050 [1]. Actions outlined to reduce emissions include decarbonizing the energy sector by focusing on low-carbon energy sources and efficient energy use. When it comes to measures that individual households can implement to save energy, the pertinent literature commonly distinguishes between curtailment and efficiency [2, 3]. Energy curtailment refers to actions that save energy by reducing the frequency or intensity of certain behaviors, such as turning off the lights when leaving a room. Energy efficiency-related actions, in contrast, refer to investments in energy-efficient equipment.
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