Climate Change: Personal Responsibility and Energy Saving in Europe

We study at the individual level the connection between actions meant to reduce energy use and beliefs about personal responsibility on climate change mitigation. We also examine the role of human values and cross-country differences in shaping beliefs and actions. Using data from 23 (mostly) European countries, we find large heterogeneity in both beliefs and actions, with richer countries being more likely to exhibit more concern about the environment. Personal responsibility and actual energy saving are positively related, but the correlation is small. As regards human values, self-transcendence and openness are positively associated with responsibility, while self-enhancement and conservation are negatively correlated. Values are instead not as connected with energy saving, since we find only a positive relationship with conservation and a negative one with self-enhancement.