We are proud to announce that the study conducted as part of the jGlobal 2023 has now been published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. The study was led by JRP team members Bojana Većkalov and Sandra Geiger and involved 46 co-authors from 42 institutions across 27 countries, including JRP interns, students from the Global Behavioural Science (GLOBES) programme at Columbia University, and additional collaborators.

This new study tested the effectiveness of scientific consensus messaging across 27 countries. The international research team showed different scientific consensus messages to more than 10,500 people and subsequently asked them about their opinions on climate change. They observed that previous findings from the United States hold true in other parts of the world as well. Across all 27 countries, people responded similarly to the scientific consensus on the existence and causes of climate change. Prior to reading about the consensus among climate scientists, people estimated this consensus to be much lower than it really is. In response to reading about it, they adjusted their own perceptions, believed more in climate change, and worried more about it – but they did not support public action on climate change more. The team also tested an updated climate science consensus message. By now, 88% of climate scientists agree that climate change constitutes a crisis. How do people react when they learn about this additional crisis consensus? Interestingly, this piece of information, communicated alongside the consensus on the reality of climate change, did not provide any added value.

These new findings show that it is important to continue emphasizing the consensus among climate scientists – be it in the media or in our everyday lives when we have conversations about climate change and its impacts.

We would like to congratulate all collaborators on the publication of this project and their major contribution to scientific research on climate science consensus messaging. 

Curious? Read more about the study at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01928-2.