Low Environmental Concern Research Articles

Patterns of household electricity consumption in Norway as a function of psychological factors, socio-economic constellations and access to electric appliances

To explore the complexity of household living conditions and their relation to electricity consumption, the socio-technical constellations they create for themselves and the perceived ease of saving electricity, we conducted a clustering analysis to categorise Norwegian participants in an electricity-saving programme based on environmental concerns, personal norms and socio-economic parameters. We also explored if the household clusters differed in perceived risk of energy poverty. A sample of 1,135 Norwegians participated in the study in 2023. A two-step cluster analysis resulted in five distinct clusters which we named: (1) older couples with moderate environmental concern; (2) eco-ease in midlife; (3) middle-aged females in medium-sized households; (4) growing families with moderate concerns; and (5) moderate advocates with adolescents. Analysis of variance indicated significant variations in mean scores of environmental concerns, access to energy appliances and perceived behavioural control implement energy-saving tips across clusters (p<0.01), but no difference in perceived risk of energy poverty. The results show that changes in the living situation, especially children moving out, seems to have strong effects on per capita electricity consumption, if the housing infrastructure is not adapted to the new family size. Lower environmental concern particularly impacts electricity consumption negatively in the time after children leave the household, and the same can be concluded for gender roles with females being more motivated to save electricity. Based on these results we recommend to more actively support these transitions of living situations, but also support existing sustainable energy use practices or connect electricity saving to other motivations (like supply security) for clusters where environmental concern is low.

The Role of Fairness for Accepting Stricter Carbon Taxes in Sweden

Carbon taxes are considered to be an efficient method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; however, such taxes are generally unpopular, partly because they are seen as unfair. To explore if public acceptance of a stricter carbon tax in Sweden can be enhanced, this study investigates the effectiveness of three different policy designs, addressing collective and personal distributional consequences and promoting procedural aspects (democratic influence). A large-scale (n = 5200) survey is applied, combining a traditional multi-category answer format with a binary choice format. The results show that support for higher carbon taxation can be enhanced if tax revenues are redistributed to affected groups. Policies with collective justice framings can change the attitudes of individuals who express antagonistic attitudes to increased carbon taxation and influence groups comparably more affected by carbon taxes, such as rural residents, low-income groups, and people who are driving long distances. Policy designs addressing collective distributional consequences are, however, less effective on individuals expressing right-leaning ideological views and low environmental concern. Policies addressing personal distributional outcomes, or perceptions of procedural injustice, had no significant effect on policy acceptance.

Inclusive digital economy, resource dependence and changes in the urban energy mix: City level analysis from China

The advent of an inclusive digital economy in China has reshaped urban dynamics, prompting shifts in resource reliance and altering energy consumption patterns. Given this, we conduct city-level data analysis to elucidate the intricate relationship between this digital transformation and changes in the urban energy mix from 2011 to 2022. This study provides an in-depth empirical analysis of how the digital economy (DE) affects the urban energy mix and explores the possible mechanisms of action behind it. The findings of the study are as follows: first, DE positively promotes the changes in the urban energy mix (CUEM); second, the promotion effect of DE on the urban energy mix is more obvious in southern cities, fifth-tier cities, cities with relatively low public environmental concern and higher degree of marketization; and third, the core mechanism indicates that DE promotes the change of urban energy structure by weakening the city's resource dependence (RSD). These findings provide valuable recommendations for city managers and policy makers, emphasizing that the importance of DE in the modern economic context is not limited to the economic realm, but also lies in its potential value in promoting environmental sustainability and social well-being.

Impact of Environmental Protection Tax on carbon intensity in China.

In the context of increasingly severe global climate change, finding effective carbon emission reduction strategies has become key to mitigating climate change. Environmental Protection Tax (EPT), as a widely recognized method, effectively promotes climate change mitigation by encouraging emission reduction behaviors and promoting the application of clean technologies. Based on data from 282 cities in China, this paper takes the official implementation of the EPT in 2018 as the policy impact and the cities with increased tax rates for air taxable pollutants as the treatment group and uses DID model to systematically demonstrate the relationship between the implementation of the EPT and carbon intensity (CI) and further explores the possible pollutant emissions and green innovation mediating effects. The findings show that (1) the implementation of EPT can effectively reduce CI by about 4.75%, and this conclusion still holds after considering the robustness of variable selection bias, elimination of other normal effects, policy setting time bias, and self-selection bias. (2) The implementation of EPT can reduce CI by reducing pollutant emissions and improving the level of green innovation. (3) There is obvious regional heterogeneity in the carbon reduction effect of EPT, and the implementation of EPT has a more significant effect on CI in medium-tax areas, low environmental concern areas, general cities, and eastern regions. This paper not only provides a new analytical perspective for systematically understanding the carbon emission reduction effect of EPT but also provides policy insights for promoting regional green transformation and advancing carbon peak carbon neutralization.

Eco-guilt and eco-shame in everyday life: an exploratory study of the experiences, triggers, and reactions

Guilt and shame are often mentioned in the context of environmental problems. Exploring how such emotions affect individuals and their behavior is crucial to the effective promotion of more pro-environmental behavior and sustainable consumption. The aim of this article is to further the understanding of eco-guilt and eco-shame by studying these emotions among participants with differing levels of environmental concern (EC). Using a phenomenologically inspired approach, we conducted 18 in-depth interviews with Danish citizens. A clear connection between EC and the experienced emotions emerged, including how these emotions were triggered and how participants reacted to them. While individuals with high EC mainly experienced eco-guilt, individuals with low EC mainly experienced eco-shame and individuals with a medium level of EC experienced both emotions. Both eco-guilt and eco-shame can increase pro-environmental behaviors under certain conditions, but their effects are complex, and eco-shame in particular, risks leading to environmentally harmful behaviors. Therefore, harnessing these emotions to promote pro-environmental behavior introduces moral as well as practical considerations. The novelty of this study is that it questions the view that certain environmental emotions are inherently adaptive or maladaptive and underscores the importance of understanding the individual and social dynamics, which can affect how eco-guilt, eco-shame and their pro-environmental effects are experienced.

National identity and environmentalism: why national narcissism might undermine pro-environmental efforts

The extant literature recognizes national identity as a pivotal factor motivating both individual and collective actions to tackle environmental problems. Yet, prior research shows mixed evidence for the relationship between national identity and environmentalism. Here, we propose a theoretical approach that articulates distinctions between different forms of national identity and their differential associations with environmental attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, we argue that it is key to differentiate national identification, which reflects a positive attachment to one's country and ties to other compatriots, from national narcissism, which reflects viewing one's country as exceptional and deserving of special treatment. In contrast to national identification, national narcissism is consistently associated with lower environmental concern and predicts support for anti-environmental policies. We show that this is likely due to national narcissism being linked to belief in climate-related conspiracy theories, support for policies that challenge external pressures yet present the nation in a positive light (e.g., greenwashing), and focusing on short-term benefits for the nation. Extending past individual-level findings, we report a pre-registered analysis across 56 countries examining whether national narcissism is also linked to objective indices of lower environmental protection at the country level of analysis. Results revealed a negative relationship between countries' environmental performance and country-level national narcissism (while adjusting for national identification and GDP per capita). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our approach and the country-level findings for advancing research in the field.

Text, Short Video, or Long Video? Effects of Attention to Various Types of Social Media on Public Knowledge of Dual Carbon: A Multigroup Comparison Based on Environmental Concern Levels

ABSTRACT Drawing upon the cognitive mediation model, this study aims to investigate the factors that influence public knowledge of dual carbon in China. Using data collected from a survey of 500 participants living in western, eastern, central, northern, and southern cities in China, the study found that attentions to different types of social media were positively associated with elaboration and interpersonal communication. Furthermore, elaboration positively affected factual knowledge about dual carbon, perceived familiarity with dual carbon, and structural knowledge about dual carbon, while interpersonal communication only positively affected structural knowledge. The multigroup analysis demonstrated that the effects of (a) elaboration on factual knowledge and (b) interpersonal communication on structural knowledge were more pronounced among participants with high environmental concern than among those with low environmental concern. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

COVID-related environmental concerns and aspirations for a greener, pandemic-proof future: Prospect for civil-society led change for sustainability

The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact in terms of lives lost and socio-economic decline but also highlighted issues regarding environmental sustainability. However, few studies have investigated COVID-19-related environmental perceptions. We thus assessed (i) people's concerns about the pandemic's adverse global environmental impacts and (ii) their aspirations for a greener, pandemic-proof, post-COVID future in a representative survey in New Zealand using two specifically designed measures. We found moderate to high COVID-related environmental concern (mean rating = 6.79 on a 10-point scale) and greener post-COVID world aspirations (mean rating = 7.01 on a 10-point scale). Concern and aspirations were unexpectedly evident even among those with low pro-environmental predispositions (e.g. those with low general environmental concern, low recycling frequency, and zero past-5-year environmental actions) – suggesting a pandemic-induced change among the previously unconcerned. Pre-existing pro-environmental dispositions and behaviours were not consistently associated with higher ratings in our measures as hypothesised. Demographic variables had limited influence, while experiences of financial and mental health impacts due to COVID-19 did not affect our measures – suggesting that the pandemic gave rise to new dimensions of environmental concern and aspirations for change that were experienced by most in society. While these concerns and aspirations offer a platform for society-led change, meaningful change can only occur with political will among governments to minimise the present pandemic's environmental impacts, sustain environmentally beneficial practices that occurred during lockdowns, and prevent future zoonotic epidemics and pandemics by steering and supporting environmental investments that lead to changes to travel behaviour, diet, farming practices, and treatment of animals.

Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure and Earnings Management in China: Ethical Behaviour or Opportunism Motivation?

China has entered a new stage of high-quality economic development, which puts forward in-depth requirements for environmental protection. Companies in heavily polluting industries are required to disclose environmental information. Fulfilling environmental responsibilities and disclosing this information may be either a responsible moral act or an opportunistic act. Taking listed companies in China’s heavily polluting industries from 2009 to 2020 as a sample, this study examines the economic consequences of enterprise environmental information disclosure (EID) from the earnings management (EM) perspective, as an external representation of ‘ethical behaviour’ and ‘opportunism motivations’ of EID and considers the effects of internal management competency and operating environment volatility. Findings include: (1) EID can restrain EM and support the ‘ethical behaviour’ motivation of EID. (2) Compared with the ‘soft disclosure’ of environmental information, the effect of ‘hard disclosure’ on EM is more obvious. (3) Greater management competency can strengthen the EM governance role of EID, while greater environmental uncertainty weakens this mechanism. (4) EID in enterprises in a mature period, state-owned, western regions, or low public environmental concern areas show an inhibitory effect on EM. Furthermore, its moralistic tendencies are more obvious compared with enterprises in growth or recession periods, non-state-owned, eastern regions, and those with high public environmental concerns.

Altercast framing with assertive sustainability messages: how dominant brands can motivate non-green consumers

Advertisers often use assertive messages because they minimize ambiguity, are attention-grabbing, and encourage behavioural compliance, making them a popular message design strategy in sustainability advertising. However, assertive messages often backfire for ‘non-green’ or lower environmental concern (LEC) consumers, generating more negative attitudes toward the ad sponsor and entrenching existing behaviours. Advertisers employ subtle phrasing to mitigate this adverse effect, reducing the message’s assertiveness. While research has investigated different variations of subtler message designs, no research has yet to explore how to maintain an assertive message toward achieving more favourable source attitudes and greater behavioural compliance intentions. The current research draws on message framing and altercasting theory to create a new concept – altercast framing – that preserves the core assertive message. Three experimental studies reveal that altercast framing can enhance brand attitudes and behavioural intentions for LEC consumers but only when the message source is a high (versus low) market share brand. This research contributes to advertising theory and practice by (a) developing a novel message framing concept that preserves the core message, (b) expanding on message assertiveness research by integrating both message sender and message receiver characteristics toward maximizing ad effectiveness, (c) identifying the differential effect of a specific message sender characteristic – market share – on assertive messages, and (d) outlining an advertising strategy that enhances behavioural compliance intentions for LEC consumers.

Environmental concern as a moderator of information processing: A fMRI study

The psychological processes that predict behaviour can be influenced by the approaches taken in environmental awareness messages. The persuasiveness generated by different approaches depends on the environmental concern of viewers. The study identifies brain regions active while processing positive advertisements. It also studies brain activity in subjects with high (vs low) environmental concern while processing positive ads. In addition, it relates the brain activity evoked in response to positive ads which predicts more significant attitudes toward the ads, in subjects with great environmental concern. The results indicate that positive messages activate regions linked to self-value and societal benefit in those subjects who are more concerned. We found a stronger effect in regions linked to an emotional response in viewers with greater environmental concern. The identified emotional response may precede higher attitudinal ratings.

The negative influence of environmentally sustainable behavior on tourists

Environmentally sustainable behavior influences tourists purchasing decisions on whether to engage in sustainable consumption. Based on resource conservation theory and an actor-centric perspective, the current study investigates how and when engaging in environmentally sustainable behavior directly and indirectly affects emotional exhaustion and unneeded behavior. Emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between environmentally sustainable behavior and unneeded behavior, with moderating effects of environmental concern and perceived environmental knowledge. Using the experience sampling method, data are collected in a10-day questionnaire from 151 tourists in Shanghai. Results from multi-level structural equation modeling show negative impacts of tourist environmentally sustainable behavior on unneeded behavior via emotional exhaustion. The nexus between environmentally sustainable behavior and emotional exhaustion is stronger at low environmental concern and weaker at perceived environmental knowledge. This conclusion may enrich conservation theory and show practical values for tourism policy makers, producers and marketers.

Post-Soviet states and CO2 emissions: the role of foreign direct investment

ABSTRACT Natural resource abundance, growth-oriented strategies and low environmental concern of post-Soviet states may exacerbate the consequences of climate change significantly. This study considers the relationship between CO2 emissions, economic development, foreign investment inflows, trade and energy use in 20 post-Soviet states between 1995 and 2017. A panel cointegration test reveals the long-term cointegrating relationship between the variables. Long-term elasticities are reported using Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares regressions, which yield quite similar results: GDP per capita, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, trade and energy use positively related to CO2 emissions per capita in the long term. A panel causality test, however, identifies unidirectional causality running from CO2 emissions to energy use at p<0.01. In other words, greater economic activity in terms of foreign capital inflows, larger trade shares, extensive energy use and economic development, harm the environment through increasing CO2 emissions and strengthen the need for greater environmental and climate change concerns. The study aims to contribute to this Special Issue through accounting for the role of foreign direct investment and foreign trade in the sustainable development of post-Soviet states.

It’s all about community: On the interplay of social capital, social needs, and environmental concern in sustainable community action

Behavior change towards sustainable lifestyles such as adoption of renewable energy technologies is a significant element in the fight against anthropogenic climate change. Increasingly, private households can be observed to take up different renewable energy technologies; however, the introduction of these technologies is not accompanied by a broader adoption of pro-environmental behaviors, as recent studies have shown. At the same time, group settings and social capital seem to promote the uptake of wide-ranging sustainability measures. Six case studies were conducted among different sustainable community projects in Germany to shed light on why and how broad sustainability transformation in such settings comes about. Findings suggest that successful implementation of wide-ranging sustainable measures and changes in behaviors in community settings result from motivations that originate from an interplay of social needs, social capital, social norms, and environmental concern. Strong environmental attitudes, not among all, but a critical mass of members and key individuals are necessary. The desire for community and other motives, along with social influence and social norms push individuals with low environmental concern to participate in sustainable endeavors.

Anchoring effect in judgments of objective fact and subjective preference

The way by which various sources of external information interact in their effects on judgment is rarely investigated. Here, we report two experiments that examine how two sources of external information—an anchor (a reference price) and an eco-label—influence judgments of an objective fact (product price) and a subjective preference (willingness-to-pay for the product). Participants’ price judgments were drawn in the direction of the anchor point, whereas the eco-label resulted in higher judgments of objective fact (Experiment 1) but did not influence subjective preference (Experiment 2). Interestingly, the eco-label seemed to strengthen the effect of the high anchor in judgments of objective fact. Further, participants with higher environmental concern answered a higher price on the subjective preference questions when they received a high anchor, as well as a lower price when they received a low anchor in comparison to the low environmental concern group. This study demonstrates that various external information sources can strengthen each other’s effects on consumer belief about products, while the effects are weaker for consumers’ preferences. The implications of the results for decision making are discussed.

The Demographics of Citizen Science Participation and Its Implications for Data Quality and Environmental Justice

Citizen science programs have been growing in popularity in recent years and can provide various benefits to participants and their communities. We sought to determine whether these benefits are equitably accessible to all by examining potential demographic disparities in participation in our statewide citizen science program. We first explored whether Illinois RiverWatch participants are demographically and geographically representative of Illinois’s population. We conducted online surveys of current participants to gather information on demographics, including race, income, and education level, and then compared these responses with the population of Illinois as a whole using (US) census data. We also examined whether RiverWatch stream sites are disproportionately located in areas of low environmental justice concern, as determined by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (US EPA’s) Environmental Justice screening tool. We used GIS to map all stream sites (n = 936) and determined whether they were located in areas of high or low environmental justice concern. The survey data indicate that RiverWatch participants are disproportionately white, highly educated, and affluent compared with the Illinois general population. In addition, we found RiverWatch sites tend to be located in areas of lower environmental justice concern, and that areas of high environmental justice concern are underrepresented. We discuss how disparities in demographics of participants can not only indicate need for improvement in the accessibility of a citizen science program but could also harm the quality of the river-monitoring data collected, as it leads to sampling that is not accurately representative.

Update of EMA's Guideline on the Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) of Medicinal Products for Human Use.

Pharmaceutical residues can harm the environment. Therefore any Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) for a medicinal product for human use shall be accompanied by an "indication of any potential risks presented by the medicinal product for the environment" according to Article 8(3)(g) of the Directive 2001/83/EC. Since 2006 a guideline document from the European Medicines Agency (EMA, formerly EMEA) is available for this task, which is now called the "Environmental Risk Assessment" (ERA). Recently the EMA released a draft revision of an updated ERAguideline. The present paper provides a summary of the intended innovation. A number of options have been discontinued, but some of them cannot be easily recognised, even though they are potentially affecting the MAA and its costs in a relevant way. A new specifically tailored experimental testing course for antibiotics and a secondary poisoning assessment is introduced. The selectionof required study types is altered and the environmental fate evaluation is adapted to the scientific progress. In the recent situation it is suggested that marketing authorisation applicants may reconsider the conduct of water/sediment studies for substances not requiring these according to the guideline revision. The new tailored testing approach for antibiotics avoids any vertebrate use, because it demands no fish study, therefore it may be applied henceforth. If the new prescriptions are not yet in force at the point in time of the MAA submission, appropriate waivers should be stated in the ERA. No further HPLC-study types and acute earthworm toxicity tests should be performed, since the guideline update draft does not accept them. In preclinical toxicity and pharmacokinetic studies, additional data gathering on metabolites should be considered in order to avoid unnecessary leaflet warnings. The cost for ERA may change significantly, with a tendency to increase for generic pharmaceutical MAA, but with a possible reduction for substances of low environmental concern. Earlier consideration of ERA in the drug development process is recommended.

Impact of regulatory intervention and consumer environmental concern on product introduction

To meet consumer expectations for greener and better quality products and to ensure effective compliance with emissions regulations, firms have begun investing in improving the quality and greenness (low carbon level) of existing products. Emissions regulations currently restrict carbon emissions from product manufacturing rather than the emissions from the use of sold products. However, a large amount of carbon may be emitted from the use of products. Motivated by these issues, we analytically investigate the impact of environmental concern and the policies of regulators, and consumer environmental concern on product introduction. Our results show that (i) whether emissions trading regulations benefit firms depends on the quality improvement capability, and the interaction between emissions price and allowed emissions cap; (ii) the environmental concern of consumers helps firms obtain higher profits when quality improvement capability is relatively high, and always benefits environmental performance; and (iii) relatively low environmental concern set by regulators is detrimental to the maximization of social welfare, whereas high regulator environmental concern helps to maximize social welfare but at the expense of reducing firms’ profits.

Advertising Attitude, Green Purchase Intention and Environmental Concern: Promoting Functional Versus Emotional Appeals

The inadequacy of information related to green purchase intention makes it essential for marketers to understand consumer behaviour towards green advertising especially in Indonesia, where the trend is still new. Acknowledging this research gap, this study aimed to investigate the influence of different green ads by testing on whether the ads generate green purchase intention by shaping advertising attitudes. In addition, the moderating role of high or low levels of the participants’ environmental concern is also taken into account. This research compares the effects of four types of advertisements: a functional green ad promoting the environmental benefits of a product, an emotional green ad employing a visual representation of pleasant natural scenery, a combined-type green ad that unites both functional and emotional attributes, and a control ad. Data collection through online questionnaires was obtained from 143 Indonesian youth and this was done by way of convenience sampling approach. Using separate univariate regression analysis, the findings of the experimental study suggest that functional, emotional and combined-type green ads all significantly enhance green purchase intention by shaping ad attitudes, where the functional ad displays itself as the most effective appeal out of the rest. These effects do depend on the participants’ level of environmental concern, shown by the significant moderating role of high environmental concern towards functional ads and the significant moderating role of low environmental concern towards emotional ads. The reason behind this research outcome is proposed to be due to the participants’ avoidance of greenwashing which the future scope can explore more about; especially for the Indonesian sample as research on green marketing in Indonesia is relatively scant compared to other Asian and Western works.

The production decisions and cap setting with wholesale price and revenue sharing contracts under cap-and-trade regulation

After consideration of a supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer, this paper uses a two-stage Stackelberg game to explore the production decision as well as the government cap setting with wholesale price and revenue sharing contracts under cap-and-trade regulation. We also compare the total carbon emission and social welfare with the two contracts. We list some main conclusions. Firstly, we find that the government's over-allocated carbon credits may damage the manufacturer's profit with wholesale price or revenue sharing contract, which can increase the difficulty of implementing cap-and-trade regulation. Secondly, we detect that the optimal cap under the two contracts is decreasing or constant in the environmental concern parameter, which means that the government should keep the optimal cap unchanged under the low or high environmental concern parameter, and decrease the cap when the middle environmental concern parameter increases. Thirdly, we show that using green technology may increase the total carbon emission. Finally, we discover that the social welfare with wholesale price contract is less (larger) than that with revenue sharing contract under low (high) value of the environmental concern parameter, and the social welfare with the two contracts is equal to each other under middle value of the environmental concern parameter.