Moving Forward
National Environmental Sustainability and Economic Preferences View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Lisa Wester
In the light of large country differences in terms of environmental performance, various explanations have been provided on the question of why some nations have been more successful than others in their efforts to, for example, reduce emissions, make more effective use of natural resources, and mitigate environmental deterioration. This paper examines whether nationally aggregated risk and time preferences are predictors for differences in countries' environmental performance. Economic preference values are obtained from the Global Preference Survey (GPS). For the assessment of each country’s environmental sustainability it is drawn on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). In line with theoretical considerations and anecdotal empirical evidence, this study finds (via OLS and Poisson regressions) that countries with higher levels of patience and risk aversion more successfully respond to challenges to environmental sustainability. These findings are robust across different model specifications and alternative econometric approaches. Estimating the relationship at a subnational level leads to similar patterns. A systematic investigation of the role of risk and time preferences can deepen the understanding of cross-country differences in environmental performance and, thereby, help policy makers and international institutions to develop and implement adequate programs, which promote sustainable development (more) effectively. For instance, taking into account the diverse preference profiles can facilitate working up implementation mechanisms for environmental agreements and assessing whether environmental practices and instruments being in place in one region can be applied successfully to another region.
Leveraging Emotions for Climate Action: Harnessing Social Media Data and Cutting-Edge Technologies for Sustainable Development View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Hana Ghiloufi
Climate change remains one of the most urgent challenges of our time, yet traditional methods of engaging the public often fail to effectively mobilize action. This presentation explores a novel approach to climate communication by examining the role of emotions in shaping public perceptions and behaviors toward climate change. Drawing on advancements in natural language processing (NLP), sentiment analysis, and topic modeling, this research proposes to harness social media data as a lens through which emotional responses to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be identified and analyzed. By focusing on emotions such as fear, hope, and anger, this approach aims to uncover how emotional engagement with climate discourse influences pro-environmental behaviors and supports more effective policy development as well as what are the most effective methods to analyze such problem. Although no empirical data has been collected at this stage, the proposed methodology envisions a two-step process: first, extracting and categorizing emotions from social media content, and second, examining how these emotions may correlate with public climate action. Ultimately, this research seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of the intersection between emotion, technology, and sustainable development, offering guidance for policymakers, environmental communicators, and researchers seeking to foster stronger, emotion-driven engagement with climate change solutions.
Featured On the Suitability of Action Plans for Facilitating Urban Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: An Analysis of 257 Plans Worldwide View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Prince Dacosta Aboagye
Local governments are now more than ever expected to lead climate action planning as climate change intensifies and urbanization increases rapidly. However, studies indicate limitations in the comprehensiveness and level of integration of adaptation and mitigation in existing climate action plans. To develop suitable climate action plans that are comprehensive and consistent with globally accepted standards and benchmarks, this study proposed an Urban Climate Action Planning framework and pilot-tested it with 257 urban climate action plans. Overall, 43 criteria are included in the framework across three stages of climate planning. The pilot test revealed that more than half of the sampled plans have a medium level of suitability, with 39% having a weak level of suitability. About 51% of plans from Europe have a weak level of suitability. Surprisingly, none of the plans sampled from Africa and Latin America achieved a weak level of suitability despite lacking a significant share of global climate research and development funding. A Kruskal-Wallis test shows a statistically significant association between stages of climate planning and (a) city types (p-value of 0.004326) and (b) year of adoption or publication of climate plans and suitability scores (p-value of 0.0001027). Urban climate action plans adopted or published more recently (2018-2022) are likely more suitable than those adopted or published earlier. The sampled urban climate action plans from the Global South had higher average suitability scores than those from the Global North. The study presents key findings and considerations for urban climate action planning and future research.
In with All Generations: From Socioeconomic Inequalities to Generational Solidariy View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Lihua Huang
The literature on climate change and equitable development has debated over adverse effects of climate change on survival and development of younger and older generations. It is evident that both younger and older generations are disproportionately impacted by climate change, for different reasons. Using the frameworks of social inequalities and the asset-based development approach, this interpretive research study inquiries into cultural and socioeconomic context of sustainable development, mainly through eight systematic reviews on climate change and generational relationships since 2020. While special attention is given to adverse effects of ageism and inequalities of biomedical and socioeconomic conditions and developmental opportunities between socio-culturally constructed different generations in climate change, this study critically interprets the consumerism and instrumentalism tenets of the generational division hypothesis which treats everyone and every generation as burden and views them in the fight for themselves to colonize non-human nature resources. To achieve shared climate sustainability and resilience, this study appraises alternatives of generational division hypothesis such as social inequalities of conditions and opportunities, generational solidarity, and asset-based approaches, with the focus on an asset-based sustainable development approach, where everyone and every generation are in this anthropogenic climate resilience for all current and future generations, and they are treated as assets and agents to sustainable development, supported by best evidence on necessary and effective outcomes of intergenerational solidarity practice for sustainable individual, cohort, community, and global development. This study illustrates the asset-based development approach of generational solidarity through two examples: Wildfires and generational knowledge share in indigenous communities.
