Generational differences in climate-related beliefs, risk perceptions and emotions in the UK

Poortinga, Wouter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6926-8545, Demski, Christina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9215-452X and Steentjes, Katharine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8661-8287 2023. Generational differences in climate-related beliefs, risk perceptions and emotions in the UK. Communications Earth & Environment 4 , 229. 10.1038/s43247-023-00870-x

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Abstract

It is widely believed that younger generations are more engaged with climate change than older generations. However, evidence of a gap in climate-related perceptions and concern is mixed, likely due to the inconsistent use of outcome variables. Here we systematically examine generational differences across different types of climate engagement including cognitive and affective dimensions. Using data from three nationally-representative surveys conducted in the UK in 2020, 2021 and 2022, we show there is an overall pattern of higher levels of climate-related beliefs, risks perceptions and emotions among younger generation groups. However, the gap is larger and more consistent for climate-related emotions than for climate-related beliefs. While generational differences in climate-related emotions were found across all years, the overall gap has disappeared due to narrowing climate-related beliefs and risk perceptions. The generational differences are therefore mainly in emotional engagement rather than in beliefs about anthropogenic climate change.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Architecture Psychology
Publisher:	Nature Research
ISSN:	2662-4435
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 May 2023
Date of Acceptance:	26 May 2023
Last Modified:	12 Sep 2023 16:22
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/160054

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