Speaker
Description
China's consumption has become more carbon-intensive in recent decades, making it the world’s largest CO2 emitter. However, with China aiming for carbon neutrality by 2060, a key question remains: How can a low-carbon lifestyle transformation be achieved? In present-day China, urban individuals under the age of 35 have the highest average carbon footprints and are strongly influenced by social media. Simultaneously, China takes a top-down approach to climate actions – it has been primarily driven by national policies, such as the emission trading scheme.
In a controlled between-subject online experiment, we examine whether a social media message that emphasizes the individual role in climate actions influences individual’s incentivized pro-environmental behaviors (treatment message). Pro-environmental behavior is measured in two actions consisting of (1) donations for tree planting and (2) travel choices for 10 domestic mid-distance trips, in which participants each choose between the more expensive, environmentally-friendly train or the cheaper, less environmentally-friendly airplane. By varying five sender types in the treatment message (private vs. public: national vs. international, government vs. academia), we further investigate potential sender-type influences on individual pro-environmental behaviors. Other explored questions relate to the consistency between experiment behavior in the two actions and how sender types affect pluralistic ignorance, perceived climate emotions, and perceived action-specific effectiveness as a climate protection measure. Further, we examine how sender type, climate change beliefs, perceived behavior and perceived social norms regarding a climate action-oriented Chinese population, as well as Schwartz’ personal values influence stated pro-environmental intentions.
The study sample includes 1500 individuals aged 18-34 and live in two large cities in China: Peking and Shanghai. These two cities are interesting in our treatment context as they are similar in population size but different in their political and international orientation: While Peking is the political center of China, Shanghai is the international center of the country. Our sample is representative regarding city, gender, and age groups. Data are collected as an online experiment in Qualtrics and recruitment is conducted by China’s largest data collection platform WJX (https://www.wjx.cn/).
Our targeted sample size is adequate to detect small effect sizes (Cohen’s d of 0.2), ensuring sufficient statistical power. This study provides valuable insights into what can (or cannot) drive individual pro-environmental actions among the young urban Chinese population. This is crucial for identifying factors that can accelerate the transformation towards a carbon-neutral lifestyle in China, influencing global emissions worldwide.
| Keywords | Information senders, pro-environmental behavior, online experiment, China |
|---|---|
| Status of your work | Experimental Design |
| Early Career Researcher Award | Yes, the paper is eligible |
