Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change. Yet, little is known about the relationship between exposure to extreme events, subjective attribution of these events to climate change, and climate policy support, especially in the Global South. Combining large-scale natural and social science data from 68 countries (<i>N</i> = 71,922), we develop a measure of exposed population to extreme weather events and investigate whether exposure to extreme weather and subjective attribution of extreme weather to climate change predict climate policy support. We find that most people support climate policies and link extreme weather events to climate change. Subjective attribution of extreme weather was positively associated with policy support for five widely discussed climate policies. However, exposure to most types of extreme weather event did not predict policy support. Overall, these results suggest that subjective attribution could facilitate climate policy support.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Climate Change
Published
2025-07-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02372-4
Citations
24
Primary Topic
Climate Change Communication and Perception
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
100.84

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article

Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world

Óscar Lecuona, Cameron Brick, Niels G. Mede, Simona Meiler et al.
24 citations
Nature Climate Change
Climate Change Communication and Perception
100.84
article

Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world

Óscar Lecuona, Cameron Brick, Niels G. Mede, Simona Meiler, Sebastian Berger, Chahan M. Kropf, Edward Maibach, Viktoria Cologna, Sabina Mihelj, John C. Besley, Mike S. Schäfer, Marina Joubert, Samuel Lüthi, Sander van der Linden, David N. Bresch, Наоми Орескес
article en
24 citations

Abstract

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change. Yet, little is known about the relationship between exposure to extreme events, subjective attribution of these events to climate change, and climate policy support, especially in the Global South. Combining large-scale natural and social science data from 68 countries (<i>N</i> = 71,922), we develop a measure of exposed population to extreme weather events and investigate whether exposure to extreme weather and subjective attribution of extreme weather to climate change predict climate policy support. We find that most people support climate policies and link extreme weather events to climate change. Subjective attribution of extreme weather was positively associated with policy support for five widely discussed climate policies. However, exposure to most types of extreme weather event did not predict policy support. Overall, these results suggest that subjective attribution could facilitate climate policy support.

Nature Climate ChangeVol. 15(7)
Linköping University (SE), Eötvös Loránd University (HU), University of Notre Dame (US), Boston University (US), Linde (United States) (US), Leuphana University of Lüneburg (DE), Tongji University (CN), Australian National University (AU), National Research University Higher School of Economics (RU), University of Bern (CH), University of Nigeria (NG), Nkumba University (UG), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES), California Institute of Technology (US), Western University (CA), London Metropolitan University (GB), Jagiellonian University (PL), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (US), Northeastern University (US), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Vienna (AT), University of Tasmania (AU), University of Minnesota (US), Ural Federal University (RU), Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE), Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss (CH), Harvey Mudd College (US), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE), University of Bonn (DE), Harvard University (US), University of Lisbon (PT), University of Crete (GR), Loughborough University (GB), University of Buea (CM), Waseda University (JP), University of Ljubljana (SI), University of Alberta (CA), University of Turku (FI), Witten/Herdecke University (DE), University of Botswana (BW), Universität Hamburg (DE), University of Sussex (GB), George Mason University (US), National Taiwan University (TW), City University of Hong Kong (HK), Aston University (GB), University of Groningen (NL), University of Concepción (CL), Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (IL), University of Potsdam (DE), The University of Western Australia (AU), Pomona College (US), Université de Dschang (CM), Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University Yogyakarta (ID), Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (BR), Royal Holloway University of London (GB), Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (MX), Carleton College (US), Utrecht University (NL), Egerton University (KE), La Trobe University (AU), Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (PE), Bowen University (NG), University of Agder (NO), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK), University of Zurich (CH), University of St.Gallen (CH), Aarhus University (DK), Trinity College Dublin (IE), University of Kent (GB), Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), University of Victoria (CA), Charles University (CZ), University of Cambridge (GB), Stellenbosch University (ZA), Erzurum Technical University (TR), University Hospital Bonn (DE), Harvard University Press (US), Karolinska Institutet (SE), LMU Klinikum (DE), Nicolaus Copernicus University (PL), Université Rennes 2 (FR), UNSW Sydney (AU), University of Malaya (MY), University of Łódź (PL), ETH Zurich (CH), Uniwersytet SWPS (PL), University of Oxford (GB), Université Paris Nanterre (FR), University of Belgrade (RS), Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), Zürich Airport (Switzerland) (CH), Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (FR), Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), TED University (TR), University of Inland Norway (NO), Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE), Institute of Psychology (PL), Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (ES), Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (FR), Collegium Helveticum (CH), Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (DE), Stanford Medicine (US), University of Applied Sciences St. Gallen (CH), Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities (GB), Crete University Press (GR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), University of Bergen (NO), Jahangirnagar University (BD), University of Warsaw (PL), University of Bath (GB), University of Waikato (NZ), University of Bayreuth (DE), Arizona State University (US), Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (PL), Nazarbayev University (KZ), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), University of Tirana (AL), Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (DE), University of Pennsylvania (US), University of Birmingham (GB), University of Otago (NZ), University of Tübingen (DE), Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (CH), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (PT), University of Genoa (IT), University of Silesia in Katowice (PL), University of Delaware (US), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL), KIMEP University (KZ), University of the Philippines Diliman (PH), Michigan State University (US), National University of Malaysia (MY), University of Amsterdam (NL), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), Ruhr University Bochum (DE), University of Sheffield (GB), Saarland University (DE), University of Lübeck (DE), University of Bamberg (DE), UCLouvain (BE), Stanford University (US), Lviv Polytechnic National University (UA), Macquarie University (AU), Tsinghua University (CN)
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Bundesamt für Energie
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Climate Change Communication and Perception
100.84
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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