Endre Tvinnereim (Uni Research) - Physical changes and risks to humans: Explaining what people in four European countries associate with climate change

The lunch seminar was arranged as a collaboration between DIGSSCORE and the Bergen Energy Lab. The Digital Social Science Core Facility (DIGSSCORE) is an infrastructure for advanced social science data collection and multi-disciplinary research at the University of Bergen. 

Endre Tvinnereim, Senior Researcher at UniResearch Rokkansenteret and Center for Research on Climate and Energy Transformation (CET), presented the following paper: 

Physical changes and risks to humans: Explaining what people in four European countries associate with climate change

Abstract:

Knowledge about perceptions of climate change and preferences for climate policy is needed to ensure the democratic legitimacy of mitigation and adaptation policies, to facilitate their implementation, and for effective communication of policies and scientific results. A number of studies using closed-form survey questions in large population samples have shown how views on climate change vary by gender, age, education, political orientation and general attitudes toward risk. However, due to constraints on data collection and analysis, fewer representative population studies allow people to express themselves about climate change in their own words. Furthermore, no cross-national study using open-ended questions exists to our knowledge. In this article, we report on a study, European Perceptions of Climate Change, conducted in the UK, France, Germany, and Norway. We find an overall similar discourse on climate change in the four countries, centred on topics of natural phenomena and relevance to humans. We find a somewhat greater emphasis on catastrophes and flooding in France and to some extent Germany, whereas UK and Norwegian respondents emphasise weather changes and matters related to energy and industry. Older respondents emphasise weather and seasonal changes as well as flooding, whereas younger respondents are more likely to mention emissions, energy and melting ice, suggesting higher levels of specific knowledge about climate change among the young.

Endre's presentation can be found in the attachments below. The EPCC report (European Perceptions of Climate Change), which is used in the study, can be found here (https://orca.cf.ac.uk/98660/7/EPCC.pdf).