Page 16 - Standard Indicators for the social appropriation of science

Questions on climate change

In the case of climate change, the question The question on belief addresses one of
on knowledge is similar to the one used in the key dimensions of climate scepticism :
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Eurobarometers about climate change. whether climate change is a natural
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These surveys show that the subjective level phenomenon (caused, for instance, by solar
of information (the extent to which respondents activity or natural long-term variations) or
feel informed about climate change) affects an anthropogenic phenomenon, caused by
their perception of the phenomenon, namely
that those who say that they feel more informed greenhouse gas emissions that have increased
are more inclined to think it is a serious problem. exponentially since the nineteenth century, due
The question on perceptions focuses on the to industrialisation, the use of fossil fuels and
impact of climate change in daily life. For intensive farming and animal rearing.
a long time, climate change was seen as a
long-term problem, that would only be visible The question on trust is based on the warning
after it became irreversible. However, though by the UN’s IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on
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scientists hesitate to connect specific events Climate Change) in 2018 that we only have
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to climate change, it is already noticeable the 12 years to avert catastrophic climate change,
rise in temperatures, the loss of ice in the poles that is, that emissions would have to be
and the increase in frequency and severity significantly curbed by 2030 in order for global
of extreme weather events. This question warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5°C.
was used by the 2019-2020 EIB (European
Investment Bank) climate survey. 16

14. See, for instance, the 2008 Special Eurobarometer 300 Europeans’ attitudes towards climate change , the 2009
Special Eurobarometer 313 on the same topic, or the 2011 Special Eurobarometer 364 Public Awareness and
Acceptance of CO capture and storage.
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15. This is sometimes called the ‘Giddens paradox’, coined by the author himself in the 2009 book ‘The politics of
climate change’ (Polity Press), but Castree, in his 2010 review of the book for The Sociological Review clarifies that
this is already a well-known idea.
16. Citizens’ perception of climate change and its impact. 2019-2020 EIB climate survey. https://www.eib.org/en/
surveys/2nd-climate-survey/climate-change-impact.htm# European Investment Bank.
17. See Van Rensburg, W. (2015). Climate change scepticism: A conceptual re-evaluation. SAGE Open, 5(2),
2158244015579723.
18. IPCC (2018), Special Report Global Warming of 1.5 ºC

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