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Co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action around the world

Nature Climate Change volume 6, pages 154–157 (2016)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 27 April 2016

This article has been updated

Abstract

Personal and political action on climate change is traditionally thought to be motivated by people accepting its reality and importance. However, convincing the public that climate change is real faces powerful ideological obstacles1,2,3,4, and climate change is slipping in public importance in many countries5,6. Here we investigate a different approach, identifying whether potential co-benefits of addressing climate change7 could motivate pro-environmental behaviour around the world for both those convinced and unconvinced that climate change is real. We describe an integrated framework for assessing beliefs about co-benefits8, distinguishing social conditions (for example, economic development, reduced pollution or disease) and community character (for example, benevolence, competence). Data from all inhabited continents (24 countries; 6,196 participants) showed that two co-benefit types, Development (economic and scientific advancement) and Benevolence (a more moral and caring community), motivated public, private and financial actions to address climate change to a similar degree as believing climate change is important. Critically, relationships were similar for both convinced and unconvinced participants, showing that co-benefits can motivate action across ideological divides. These relationships were also independent of perceived climate change importance, and could not be explained by political ideology, age, or gender. Communicating co-benefits could motivate action on climate change where traditional approaches have stalled.

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Figure 1: Meta-analyses showing average effect sizes (with 95% confidence intervals) and tests for cross-country variability (Q) for climate change importance and co-benefit dimensions with motivations to act on climate change for ‘convinced’ participants (n = 4,049) across 24 countries.
Figure 2: Meta-analyses showing average effect sizes (with 95% confidence intervals) and tests for cross-country variability (Q) for climate change importance and co-benefit dimensions with motivations to act on climate change for ‘unconvinced’ participants from 14 countries (n = 908; student and community combined), and for ‘convinced’ participants (student and community combined) from the same countries.

Change history

  • 18 March 2016

    In the version of this Letter originally published, the following affiliation was missing for Paul G. Bain: Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. This has now been corrected in the online version of the Letter.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the following grants or financial support: Australian Research Council Discovery Project grants to P.G.B. (DP0984678) and to Y.K. (DP130102229); Marsden Fast-Start grant (E1908) from The Royal Society of New Zealand to T.L.M.; MNISW Iuventus Plus Grant IP2014 002273 to M.B.; the Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES), FONDAP Na15130009 to R.G.; and the Government of the Russian Federation within the framework of the implementation of the 5-100 Programme Roadmap of the National Research University Higher School of Economics to N.L. Acknowledgement of non-author contributions is in Supplementary Section 5.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Graduate School of Languages and Cultures, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Paul G. Bain

  2. School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland 4000, Australia

    Paul G. Bain

  3. School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia

    Paul G. Bain

  4. Centre for Applied Cross-Cultural Research and School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

    Taciano L. Milfont

  5. Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia

    Yoshihisa Kashima

  6. Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Stawki 5/7, 00-183 Warszawa, Poland

    Michał Bilewicz

  7. Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Herzliya 46150, Israel

    Guy Doron

  8. Faculty of Psychology, University of Iceland, Oddi v/Sturlugötu, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

    Ragna B. Garðarsdóttir & Nina M. Saviolidis

  9. Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraíba, 58.051-900 João Pessoa, Brazil

    Valdiney V. Gouveia

  10. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK

    Yanjun Guan

  11. Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden

    Lars-Olof Johansson & Gró Einarsdóttir

  12. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Apartado Postal 89000 Baruta, Caracas, Venezuela,

    Carlota Pasquali

  13. Department of Psychology, University of Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora 83000, Mexico

    Victor Corral-Verdugo

  14. Faculty of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid 28223, Spain

    Juan Ignacio Aragones & Akira Utsugi

  15. University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, PDPS EA1687, Toulouse 31058 cedex, France

    Christophe Demarque

  16. Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg 39106, Germany

    Siegmar Otto

  17. Faculty of Communication, Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, Nagoya 470-0193, Japan

    Joonha Park

  18. Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland

    Martin Soland

  19. Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, Grote Kruisstraat 2/I 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands,

    Linda Steg

  20. Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuna Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile

    Roberto González

  21. National Research University, Higher School of Economics, 101000, Myasnitskaya, 20. Moscow, Russia

    Nadezhda Lebedeva

  22. Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, PO Box 1094 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway,

    Ole Jacob Madsen

  23. Department of Psychology, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa

    Claire Wagner

  24. Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana

    Charity S. Akotia

  25. Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK

    Tim Kurz

  26. Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de La Frontera, Casilla 54-D, Temuco 4780000, Chile

    José L. Saiz

  27. Department of Psychology, California State University, San Marcos, California 92078, USA

    P. Wesley Schultz

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  1. Paul G. Bain
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Contributions

P.G.B., T.L.M., and Y.K. designed and coordinated the research project and collected data, with input into design and measures from all authors. P.G.B. analysed the data and wrote the paper, in conjunction with T.L.M. and Y.K. and with input from all authors. M.B., G.D., R.B.G., V.V.G., Y.G., L.-O.J., C.P., V.C.-V., J.I.A., A.U., C.D., S.O., J.P., M.S., L.S., R.G., N.L., O.J.M., C.W., G.E. and N.M.S. also translated materials, collected data and contributed to the manuscript. C.S.A., T.K., J.L.S. and P.W.S. also collected data and contributed to the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul G. Bain.

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Bain, P., Milfont, T., Kashima, Y. et al. Co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action around the world. Nature Clim Change 6, 154–157 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2814

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