Although the public
are largely aware of climate change, their understanding of how
they produce and manage carbon is generally not sufficient to lead
to changes in behaviour and lifestyle, according to a recent
study.

The researchers therefore recommend policy action to increase
the ‘carbon capability’ of the general public.

Individuals throughout society must act if we are to meet
climate change targets. The policy preference is to encourage
public engagement with climate change through voluntary action, but
to be effective this requires a good understanding of what inspires
the public to become engaged.

Much research has been conducted on how the concept of carbon
footprints or using carbon calculators could encourage behavioural
change, but little has been done on the actual meaning of ‘carbon’
in everyday life and decisions.

This study introduces the concept of ‘carbon capability’, which
considers how able the public are to make informed judgments and
effective decisions about how they produce and manage carbon.

The study carried out a survey of UK households to explore their
level of carbon capability. The 551 respondents were broadly
representative of the UK population, apart from being slightly more
qualified (26 per cent had a university degree).

The results revealed that climate change awareness was high and
most respondents (85.6 per cent) agreed that climate change is
caused by both natural processes and human activities.

While participants recognised the causes of climate change,
there were misperceptions about the contribution of each of these
causes. For example, they tended to identify the most important
causes as more distant activities, such as industry and
deforestation, and underestimated the impact of their own actions.
Just over half agreed that climate change is affecting, or will
affect, them personally.

There was a wide variation in the understanding of the term
‘carbon’, from ‘carbon dioxide’, to more moral interpretations,
such as ‘pollution’ and ‘environmental destruction’.

There were also some beliefs that carbon was responsible for
other prominent environmental issues, for example, some indicated
that ozone layer damage was caused by carbon emissions.

Respondents reported taking several actions to reduce their
emissions. Most common was reducing domestic energy. Changing
travel and shopping habits were less common. Most importantly,
there was little connection between carbon awareness and personal
choices or action.

For example, knowledge about the contribution of air travel and
car use to climate change is high (over 90 per cent acknowledged
these as causes of climate change), but only 6-36 per cent
(depending on the particular transport behaviour) of respondents
reported changes in behaviour in relation to these factors.

The research suggests that, in the UK, carbon capability is
generally not high enough for public engagement with
carbon-reduction activities. It provides a number of
recommendations to address this.

Firstly, communications need to provide relevant information to
guide climate change action and carbon needs to be made tangible.
The concept of carbon footprint could be made more ‘real’ through
smart metering and carbon labelling, as well as placing carbon in
more familiar contexts, for example, placing it in the context of
health or finance.

Alongside this, citizens should be encouraged to influence the
rules that govern carbon, such as carbon allowances, transport
policies and renewable energy policies, through voting, lobbying
and protesting. This combination of carbon education alongside
structural measures is required to promote lifestyle change to move
towards a low-carbon society.

Citation: Whitmarsh, L.,
Seyfang, G. & O’Neill, S. (2011) Public engagement with carbon
and climate change: To what extent is the public ‘carbon capable’?
Global Environmental Change. 21:56-65.

‘href=”/redir.aspx?C=e7d45db9e00649b4b508eda4c118b855&URL=http%3a%2f%2fec.europa.eu%2fenvironment%2fintegration%2fresearch%2fresearch_alert_en.htm”
target=”_blank”>Science for Environment
Policy’, Issue
235,’
Public not equipped to manage personal carbon
emissions’,
European Commission DG Environment News
Alert Service.

Tags: Climate change and energy, Environmental information
services