TY - JOUR

T1 - The energy crisis differentially impacted Swiss and German citizens’ energy literacy and efficiency preferences but not their support for climate policies

AU - Frings, Nina L.

AU - Helm, Jessica F.

AU - Hahnel, Ulf J.J.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.

PY - 2024/12

Y1 - 2024/12

N2 - The energy crisis reshaped energy politics, resulted in energy price surges, increased energy capacity, and large-scale energy-saving campaigns. While an energy demand reduction was observed in Europe, little is known about how the crisis impacted citizens’ climate-relevant judgment and decisions. Here we report a preregistered two-wave cross-national study (N = 1040) spanning the winter of 2022/2023 to investigate how support for renewable energy policies, energy literacy, and energy-efficient product choices developed as this crisis unfolded. We couple longitudinal experimental data with real-world energy price data. This natural experiment indicates that energy-efficiency preferences were impacted by the salience of the crisis and real-world price signals. Changes in energy literacy were contingent on the numerical abilities of participants, suggesting that the crisis increased knowledge gaps between different groups in society. Support for renewable energy policies, and prioritization of key policy attributes, remained stable in Germany and Switzerland despite shifts in public attention and uncertainty.

AB - The energy crisis reshaped energy politics, resulted in energy price surges, increased energy capacity, and large-scale energy-saving campaigns. While an energy demand reduction was observed in Europe, little is known about how the crisis impacted citizens’ climate-relevant judgment and decisions. Here we report a preregistered two-wave cross-national study (N = 1040) spanning the winter of 2022/2023 to investigate how support for renewable energy policies, energy literacy, and energy-efficient product choices developed as this crisis unfolded. We couple longitudinal experimental data with real-world energy price data. This natural experiment indicates that energy-efficiency preferences were impacted by the salience of the crisis and real-world price signals. Changes in energy literacy were contingent on the numerical abilities of participants, suggesting that the crisis increased knowledge gaps between different groups in society. Support for renewable energy policies, and prioritization of key policy attributes, remained stable in Germany and Switzerland despite shifts in public attention and uncertainty.

KW - Management studies

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85205722428&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s43247-024-01719-7

DO - 10.1038/s43247-024-01719-7

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 39360037

AN - SCOPUS:85205722428

VL - 5

JO - Communications Earth and Environment

JF - Communications Earth and Environment

SN - 2662-4435

IS - 1

M1 - 544

ER -