Article published in the journal Science Advances presents a web tool developed to assist policymakers in identifying more effective themes and messages to increase climate awareness and action worldwide. The tool is the result of a comprehensive study involving approximately 250 researchers and 59,000 participants in 63 countries around the world, including Brazil.

"In addition to significant investment in research focused on technology and innovation in the field of climate science, it is extremely important to address the social aspects of the problem. Climate change is a complex issue that requires the understanding and acceptance of the population. Therefore, studies in the field of psychology, which assess people's acceptance and action capacity, are essential. Because if there is no acceptance regarding climate change, there will also be no acceptance of new technologies related to carbon storage, renewable sources, or greenhouse gas measurement, for example," says researcher Karen Mascarenhas (photo), one of those responsible for the Brazilian part of the research.

Mascarenhas is the vice-coordinator of the social perception project of energy transition technologies at the Research Center for Gas Innovation (RCGI) - an Engineering Research Center (CPE) established by FAPESP and Shell at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (Poli-USP).

In the study, coordinated by the Department of Psychology at New York University in the United States, researchers tested, through questionnaires, the impact of 11 interventions and a control situation regarding four types of behavior: belief, support for climate policy, willingness to share climate-related information on social networks, and effort to plant trees.

"We tested the impact that each intervention had on people's perception that climate change exists or on their ability to support climate laws and policies. There was also the question of how much an intervention could influence a person's personal willingness to share information on their social networks. The impact of interventions on a person's willingness to contribute, through their effort, to planting trees was also measured," says Mascarenhas.

The researcher explains that this last behavior tested did not require participants to plant trees with their own hands. "A scheme was created where, if participants completed a task that required concentration, time, and patience [such as making marks in a text], a tree would be planted. This was all to assess the degree of effort they exerted under the influence of each intervention. At the end of the study, more than 300,000 trees were planted," she says.

Among the examples of interventions evaluated were: informing that more than 99% of scientists agree that the planet is warming, that climate change exists and is caused by human action (climate consensus); emphasizing how a single action can impact the future of the planet; writing a letter to a child (son, grandson, nephew, or stepchild) about the future; informing participants about catastrophic facts related to climate change.

Target audience

Based on the analysis, a tool was created that takes into account information about each participant's profile, creating different patterns of target audiences. Thus, the variety of profiles took into account nationality and political ideology, as well as age, gender, education, and income level, for example.

According to Mascarenhas, the study showed that, in general, strategies that bring closeness to the problem without scaring have been more effective. "Overall, believing or not believing in climate change is central, as it is a belief that is very difficult to change. However, we noticed that strategies such as writing a letter to future generations, which bring individuals closer to the problem, tend to have a greater impact on actions and behavioral changes. But there is also the risk of scaring them, which could generate a negative reaction. It's as if the individual thought it was a very big problem, impossible to solve, that he couldn't handle alone," she explains.

The study revealed, above all, that there is no single strategy that encourages everyone to change their behaviors and actions in favor of the climate. "Although the responses revealed a global consensus on the dangers of climate change and the importance of implementing mitigation actions on a systemic level, they also showed that there is a great variation in the most effective way to communicate the problem. This varies from one country to another, but also among different profiles of people in the same country. That's why it's so interesting that, as a result of the behavioral study, we've built a tool that can list the best strategies according to each person's profile," explains Mascarenhas.

The study showed, for example, that while emphasizing scientific consensus on climate change increased support for climate-friendly policies by 9% in Romania, there was a 5% decrease in Canada. Another example: asking participants in the study to write a letter to a child increased support for climate policy to a different degree in countries such as the United States (10%), Brazil (10%), Ghana (8%), Russia (7%), and Nigeria (5%).

"Previous studies had already evaluated the potential acceptance of individual behaviors, such as separating garbage for recycling, using public transportation, and saving electricity. These are examples of studies predominantly conducted in the Northern Hemisphere. However, the great differential of this work - besides its scope, as it is a global study - lies in the investigation of strategies, actions, and collective solutions for climate change. This made us want to participate in the research," says Mascarenhas.

It is worth noting that the Brazilian part of the work had more than a thousand participants, constituting a representative sample of the country's population. However, regional results will only be released in a second article, which is yet to be published.

The study "Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries" can be read here.