Impact of public support and government's policy on climate change in China

Abstract

Climate change is a global environmental issue that would damage the natural and biological systems. Although there are many controversies about climate change, the temperature rise has become more and more obvious in the world since the 1990s. It is worthwhile to understand whether the public supports the government's policy on climate change and how public support affects climate change. A case study of the first-tier cities in China is done to explore these questions through questionnaire surveys. 3468 valid questionnaires from four first-tier cities in China were screened out are used for individual behavior analysis. The results show that the respondents' perceptions towards climate change in China are laxer than those in other countries, meanwhile, they hope that the government would respond to climate change actively. The influencing factors mainly include the demographic characteristics and their perception of climate change. Demographic characteristics are about gender, income, marital status, age, and whether they have children. Moreover, respondents' perception of climate change has a significant impact on their attitudes towards the government's policies for mitigating climate change. The conclusions are drawn based on the comparative analysis of the survey results and suggestions are put forward for making climate change policies.

Keywords: China; Climate change; Government's policy; Public perception; Survey.