New study on the acceptance of climate protection measures

A research team from the Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour at the University of Erfurt has used the example of a speed limit on German motorways to investigate whether climate protection measures are more likely to be accepted if information on their effectiveness is provided. The results have now been published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

"The acceptance of climate policy is crucial for its successful implementation," explains Dr Kevin Tiede, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Erfurt and lead author of the study. "Our results show that the perceived effectiveness of a measure is a key lever for this."

Almost 1000 people were surveyed in the study. Some were given information in advance about the actual CO₂ savings potential of a speed limit, while the other half were not. As the effectiveness of the speed limit had been widely discussed in the media shortly before the survey, some respondents were already aware of the facts. The difference between the informed and the uninformed was therefore crucial: Those who had not heard the facts before rated the speed limit as more effective after receiving the information and also supported it more strongly. Particularly noteworthy: people who still remembered the information 1.5 years later were more likely to accept it than those who no longer remembered it.

Those who learnt about the effectiveness of the speed limit for the first time considered the speed limit to be more effective and supported it more strongly."

From the researchers' point of view, the results have the following implications for policy and communication: factual and comprehensible information about the effectiveness of climate protection measures can be an effective tool for promoting public approval – especially when people know little about it and the information is communicated in such a way that it is remembered.