The role of climate literacy in individual response to climate change: evidence from China

Abstract

As a basic tool for understanding and making informed decisions about global warming, climate literacy could potentially affect the whole process from individual awareness to public engagement with global climate change. We conducted a nationwide online survey (N = 3067) to assess climate literacy in China and investigate its role in climate change concern and climate policy support. Respondents in our sample were generally well informed about the cause and public engagement dimensions of climate literacy, while demonstrated polarized performance in regard to the consequences of climate change. Climate literacy is a stronger predictor of climate change concern and policy support than other variables such as demographics, experience, and values and can largely enhance the effects of media coverage through the mediation effect. Education and media coverage are found to be significantly associated with climate literacy, while climate experience has little to no effect on climate literacy. Our results somewhat undermine the central role of climate change concern in climate communications and public engagement. Instead, enhancing public climate literacy by disseminating scientific and result-based information from reliable institutions seems to be a more promising path in China.