Do trust and renewable energy use enhance perceived climate change efficacy in Europe?

Peter Dirksmeier; Leonie Tuitjer

doi:10.1007/s10668-022-02421-4

Details

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	8753–8776
Number of pages	24
Journal	Environment, Development and Sustainability
Volume	25
Issue number	8
Early online date	19 May 2022
Publication status	Published - Aug 2023

Abstract

In the European Union, mitigation policies in the energy sector are one of the most important fields of political intervention for reducing emissions to achieve sustainability. Using renewable energy is moreover a central arena for perceived personal and political climate change efficacy, which describes an individual’s perceived ability to positively contribute to the fight against climate change and their belief in the effectiveness of government and society to tackle climate change collectively. In this paper, we distinguish between perceived personal and political efficacy beliefs. We use multilevel regression to investigate the relationship between these two dependent variables and trust in national governments as well as renewable energy use in 20 European countries for the first time. Our analysis first finds that socio-demographic predictors for perceived personal and political climate change efficacy operate almost diametrically. Second, we find that trust in governments is a much stronger predictor for perceived political efficacy. Third, we find that renewable energy use is a significant and positive predictor for perceived personal efficacy but correlates negatively with political efficacy. Finally, we find some cross-national variation in our European sample for both dimensions of efficacy beliefs. Understanding what shapes personal and political efficacy is salient to enhance public acceptance for sustainable energy transitions.

Keywords

Europe, Mitigation, Perceived personal climate change efficacy, Perceived political climate change efficacy, Renewable energy, Trust

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Sciences(all)
Geography, Planning and Development
Economics, Econometrics and Finance(all)
Economics and Econometrics
Environmental Science(all)
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Sustainable Development Goals

Cite this

Do trust and renewable energy use enhance perceived climate change efficacy in Europe? / Dirksmeier, Peter; Tuitjer, Leonie.
In: Environment, Development and Sustainability, Vol. 25, No. 8, 08.2023, p. 8753–8776.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review

Dirksmeier, P & Tuitjer, L 2023, 'Do trust and renewable energy use enhance perceived climate change efficacy in Europe?', Environment, Development and Sustainability, vol. 25, no. 8, pp. 8753–8776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02421-4, https://doi.org/10.15488/12964

Dirksmeier, P., & Tuitjer, L. (2023). Do trust and renewable energy use enhance perceived climate change efficacy in Europe? Environment, Development and Sustainability, 25(8), 8753–8776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02421-4, https://doi.org/10.15488/12964

Dirksmeier P, Tuitjer L. Do trust and renewable energy use enhance perceived climate change efficacy in Europe? Environment, Development and Sustainability. 2023 Aug;25(8):8753–8776. Epub 2022 May 19. doi: 10.1007/s10668-022-02421-4, 10.15488/12964

Dirksmeier, Peter ; Tuitjer, Leonie. / Do trust and renewable energy use enhance perceived climate change efficacy in Europe?. In: Environment, Development and Sustainability. 2023 ; Vol. 25, No. 8. pp. 8753–8776.

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@article{192406ef983447518436e66a3d4f9ad4,

title = "Do trust and renewable energy use enhance perceived climate change efficacy in Europe?",

abstract = "In the European Union, mitigation policies in the energy sector are one of the most important fields of political intervention for reducing emissions to achieve sustainability. Using renewable energy is moreover a central arena for perceived personal and political climate change efficacy, which describes an individual{\textquoteright}s perceived ability to positively contribute to the fight against climate change and their belief in the effectiveness of government and society to tackle climate change collectively. In this paper, we distinguish between perceived personal and political efficacy beliefs. We use multilevel regression to investigate the relationship between these two dependent variables and trust in national governments as well as renewable energy use in 20 European countries for the first time. Our analysis first finds that socio-demographic predictors for perceived personal and political climate change efficacy operate almost diametrically. Second, we find that trust in governments is a much stronger predictor for perceived political efficacy. Third, we find that renewable energy use is a significant and positive predictor for perceived personal efficacy but correlates negatively with political efficacy. Finally, we find some cross-national variation in our European sample for both dimensions of efficacy beliefs. Understanding what shapes personal and political efficacy is salient to enhance public acceptance for sustainable energy transitions.",

keywords = "Europe, Mitigation, Perceived personal climate change efficacy, Perceived political climate change efficacy, Renewable energy, Trust",

author = "Peter Dirksmeier and Leonie Tuitjer",

note = "Funding Information: For their intensive, critical, and very helpful discussion of an earlier version of this paper, we thank very much Harriet Bulkeley and Lars Mewes. We also thank the six anonymous reviewers for their supportive and critical comments, which significantly improved our paper.",

year = "2023",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1007/s10668-022-02421-4",

language = "English",

volume = "25",

pages = "8753–8776",