Correcting Consumer Misperceptions about CO2 emissions

Taisuke Imai, Davide Pace, Schwardmann Peter and Joel van der Weele
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Taisuke Imai: The University of Osaka
Davide Pace: LMU Munich
Schwardmann Peter: Carnegie Mellon University
Joel van der Weele: University of Amsterdam

No 529, Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series from CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition

Abstract: Policy makers frequently champion information provision about carbon impact on the premise that consumers are willing to mitigate their emissions but are poorly informed about how to do so. We empirically test this argument and reject it. We collect an extensive new dataset and find both large misperceptions of the carbon impact of different consumption behaviors and clear preferences for mitigation. Yet, in two separate experiments, we show that correcting beliefs has no effect on consumption in large representative samples. Our null results are well-powered and informative, as we target information for maximal impact. These results call into question the potential of correcting carbon footprint misperceptions as a tool to fight climate change.

Keywords: climate change; carbon emissions; information provision; consumer behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C81 C93 D84 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04-01
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