 CO2 Emission and Climate Change Perceptions: Do Residents of High‐Emission Countries Underestimate Climate Change?Steve R. Garrison, Juheon Lee, Federica Manno and Jackson Redding Social Science Quarterly, 2025, vol. 106, issue 6 Abstract: Objective This study investigates the relationship between countries’ carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their residents’ perceptions of climate change, a topic of research that has yielded mixed results in previous studies. Methods Data from the 2020 International Social Survey Program and the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research v7.0 were used to determine how people's climate change perceptions—attribution and impact—are associated with their country's CO2 emission indicators—total, per capita, and per gross domestic product (GDP) emissions. Results The findings indicate that residents of countries with high CO2 per GDP (or carbon intensity of GDP) tend to underestimate the anthropogenic nature of climate change and its global impact compared to those with low CO2 per GDP. Total and per capita emissions did not consistently associate with the citizens’ perceptions of climate change. Conclusion These findings advance our understanding of a contextual factor of climate change perception and citizens’ preference for the economic status quo. Date: 2025 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:106:y:2025:i:6:n:e70103 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association |
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