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.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 229 |
Journal | Communications Earth & Environment |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 6 Jul 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 31 Dec 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We acknowledge support from the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) through the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), Grant Ref: ES/S012257/1.
Data availability
All data and accompanying documents can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/DKRCB. All data and accompanying documents can be accessed at the UK Data Service (https://ukdataservice.ac.uk) after 31 July 2024.
Funding
We acknowledge support from the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) through the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), Grant Ref: ES/S012257/1.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Environmental Science
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences