Cited by 74Climate Change Communication and PerceptionClimate Change Policy and EconomicsRisk Perception and Management

Public perceptions of air pollution and climate change: different manifestations, similar causes, and concerns

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Tvinnereim, Endre, Liu, Xiaozi, Jamelske, Eric M.·2017·Climatic Change

Abstract

Co-benefits are seen as a key factor for overcoming the problems of collective action and extended time horizons holding back mitigation of global warming. The mechanism behind this hypothesis is that public acceptance of mitigation policies constitutes a crucial limiting factor, necessitating ancillary gains such as clean air for mitigation policy to be politically robust. However, the public’s preference for local pollution mitigation and concomitant failure to appreciate the benefits of global warming mitigation is assumed rather than demonstrated. In this paper, we show, first, that people distinguish between the physical manifestations of air pollution and global warming, and second, that they see both phenomena as arising from the same causes as well as having negative impacts on humans. Specifically, using a survey experimental design with open-ended questions in an urban Chinese setting, we demonstrate that citizens relate glacier melt and sea-level rise to global warming, while linking the local phenomenon of smog almost exclusively to air pollution. At the same time, respondents link impacts on humans and vehicle/industrial pollution topics with both air pollution and global warming. These findings are relevant to decision-makers as they suggest that the public values mitigation of global warming in its own right. Our novel method may shed new light on a range of issues relating to energy, the economy, and environmental issues.

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Crossref · 10.1007/s10584-016-1871-2

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  • Individual rumors are debunked in due time by fact-checking measures, but public perception about anthropogenic climate change has remained controversial for a long time.

    “Individual rumors are being debunked in due time by fact checking measures (Zhao et al., 2015;Ciampaglia et al., 2015), however, public perception about some issues like human induced (anthropogenic) climate change have remained controversial for a long time (Tvinnereim et al., 2017).”

    From Credibility of climate change denial in social media (2019) · cites this paper as Tvinnereim et al., 2017

    The Introduction (page unavailable) reports differing views on whether climate change is mostly human-caused or natural, supporting the point that public perceptions of anthropogenic climate change are divided. It does not establish that this division has persisted for a long time. The fact-checking clause is attributed to other citations, not to this paper. (LLM, conf=0.78)

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Authors
Tvinnereim, E., Liu, X., & Jamelske, E. M.
Affiliations
  • Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica (TW)
  • University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (US)
Corresponding author
Tvinnereim, Endre
Venue
Climatic Change
Published
2016-12-26
Volume
140
Issue
3-4
Pages
399-412
ISSN
  • 0165-0009 (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-1480
OpenAlex
W2564158449
Cited by
74
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 7
FWCI
10.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Climatic Change (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Norges Forskningsråd (220654, 244904)
  • UWEC Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
  • UWEC Foundation Office
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Risk Perception and Management
Keywords
public perception, air pollution, climate change, co-benefits, climate change mitigation, smog, glacier melt, sea level rise, climate change causes, human health effects

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