Public perceptions of climate change and energy futures in Britain

Completed

Not Energy Related
Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Environmental, social and economic impacts)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Sociology)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Psychology)

Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Technology acceptance)

Professor Pidgeon
Psychology
Cardiff University

Standard

ESRC

01 October 2008

31 December 2010

27 months

£314,176

No relevance to Underpinning Sectors

Wales

Professor Pidgeon, Psychology, Cardiff University

Dr W Poortinga, Psychology, Cardiff University
Dr A Spence, Psychology, University of Nottingham

Objectives not supplied

Climate change is now unequivocal and an increasingly important public policy issue. In relation to this, the acceptability to people in Britain of energy sources is critical. This research will conduct a large nationwide quantitative survey (n=2,275 across England, Scotland and Wales) to examine public perceptions of climate change and various energy options. The survey aims to examine how these perceptions have changed since previous evaluations but also has a theoretical goal of examining how context influences perceptions. Context will be examined in a number of ways including how location impacts peoples" perceptions: for example, does having personal experience of the recent flooding change beliefs? In addition, the significance of whether people consider climate change and energy issues in terms of themselves personally or in terms of society as a whole will be explored, as well as how awareness of other issues such as energy security influences perceptions. Survey results will provide a better understanding of what public perceptions are, as well as how they are structured, how stable these are, and how they may change in the future. Findings will be of significant interest to policy makers, business, environmental groups, and others interested in communicating about climate change.

28/11/11