Arbeitspapier

Exploring public perception of environmental technology over time

Public opinion has a substantial impact on political actions. However, public opinion might be driven by temporary emotions. If these emotions cool off over time, public opinion might change as well. This paper analyses how emotions drive public opinion over time for the case of an environmental climate engineering technology, namely solar radiation management (SRM). SRM is a possible strategy to fight climate change by injection of sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere. Its potential implementation involves major risks and faces strong public opposition. Using panel survey data, we show that most respondents initially show strong negative emotions towards SRM and reject the technology. However, emotions cool off over time and acceptance increases. The increase in acceptance is larger, the longer the cooling-off period between two surveys is.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: Kiel Working Paper ; No. 2027

Classification
Wirtschaft
Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming
Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty: General
Publicly Provided Goods: General
Subject
Public perception
social movements
Climate engineering
Cooling-off

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Braun, Carola
Rehdanz, Katrin
Schmidt, Ulrich
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
(where)
Kiel
(when)
2016

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Braun, Carola
  • Rehdanz, Katrin
  • Schmidt, Ulrich
  • Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)

Time of origin

  • 2016

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