Public responses to climate change and low-carbon energy

This chapter sets the context for the focus on energy supply in this volume, by reviewing the empirics and theory of public perceptions of climate change and low-carbon energy. The chapter draws on and updates two highly detailed reviews by Whitmarsh et al. (2011) and Upham et al. (2009), with an additional explanation of the relationship of energy use to climate change. Climate change is the key framing rationale for the book as a whole; although alternative framings, notably energy security and economic development, feature prominently for many stakeholders; while public engagement with energy may be driven by a far broader range of motivations and influences.