Measuring environmental awareness: An analysis using google search data

Environmental awareness is usually measured using surveys. This paper aims to offer an alternative measure: an Environmental Awareness Index (EAI) constructed using Google search data provided by Google Trends. The benefits of using Google search data over surveys are that (i) they are less costly to obtain, (ii) they are available at high frequency, and (iii) they cover countries where no surveys are available. To test the validity of the proposed EAI, this study empirically assesses the impact of the computed index on individuals' pro-environmental behaviors using the Special Eurobarometer: Attitudes of European citizens towards the Environment data. Results show that the EAI is positively related to pro-environmental behaviors with a statistical significance at the one percent level. This finding stays robust in pooled OLS as well as in panel regression analysis when GDP, mean years of schooling, and population are included as control variables and when time-fixed effects are introduced. Further, the results confirm that environmental awareness is not stable over time and underline the importance of having a timely measure of environmental awareness at hand. Finally, the findings offer several practical implications for managers and policymakers, who will be able to use a timely measure of environmental awareness, assess and measure the impact of their policies aiming to raise environmental awareness as well as depict the type of behavior influenced by their policies.