Household behaviour crowds out support for climate change policy when sufficient progress is perceived

• Published in: Nature climate change Vol. 7; no. 7; pp. 512 - 515
• Main Author: Werfel, Seth H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.07.2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 706/689/222; 706/689/2788; 706/689/454; 706/689/694/682; Action; Behavior; Carbon; Carbon emissions; Climate; Climate Change; Climate change mitigation; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Climate effects; Climate policy; Crowding; Crowds; Electric power generation; Electric power plants; Emissions; Energy; Energy conservation; Environment; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Environmental policy; Experiments; Government; Government regulations; Households; Perception; Perceptions; Power plants; Public opinion; Public policy; Renewable energy; Stocking density; Surveying; Sustainability
• ISSN: 1758-678X; 1758-6798
• DOI: 10.1038/nclimate3316

Household actions and government policies are both necessary to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, household behaviour may crowd out public support for government action by creating the perception of sufficient progress. Here we demonstrate this crowding-out effect in public opinion using survey experiments with more than 14,000 participants in Japan. Subjects who were randomly assigned to report their energy-saving actions following the shutdown of the Fukushima power plant were less likely to support a tax increase on carbon emissions. Treatment effects were larger for subjects who had completed more actions. Further evidence suggests that the crowding-out effect may have been driven by an increase in the perceived importance of individual actions relative to government regulation and a decrease in the perceived issue importance of energy and environmental sustainability. Climate change mitigation will require both household and government action. This study shows that engaging in energy-saving behaviour at home leads to the perception that sufficient progress is being made through individual action, which reduces support for government policies.