Research for more climate protection: Klaus Tschira Foundation extends funding

Cornelia Betsch's research team conducts regular online surveys among 1000 adults to investigate the knowledge, risk perception, trust, attitudes and behaviour of the German population in the climate crisis. PACE thus provides a clear picture of how people perceive the climate crisis and climate protection measures. "We want to contribute to a better understanding of the factors that influence people's attitudes and behaviour with regard to climate protection," explains Betsch. "In the next step, the findings from PACE will help us to design political measures and accompanying communication campaigns in such a way that people are more supportive of them."

PACE takes a special look at people's willingness to act on climate protection. A high willingness to act means that people behave in a climate-friendly way, are politically committed to climate protection and support political measures. Among other things, the researchers were able to show that the willingness to act depends on how people perceive the health risks posed by climate change, whether they trust the government and the social environment in which they find themselves.

For example, Lena Lehrer, a doctoral student in the PACE project, conducted surveys with 3,845 respondents in 2022 and 2023 to investigate how people in Germany perceive health risks from climate change and whether their willingness to do something about it is linked to socio-demographic characteristics (Lehrer L. et al, Communicating climate change and health to specific target groups, J. Health Monit. 2023). She found that many people see visible climate impacts, such as extreme weather events, as a threat. However, they underestimate mental health problems and rising allergens. Those who rate the risks higher are more likely to get involved. Young people, men, people with a low level of education or in smaller communities are less likely to take action. The search for channels that are suitable for reaching hesitant target groups revealed that the people who are most hesitant and have the greatest need for information are less likely to seek information across all channels. Lena Lehrer and her colleagues concluded that communication should be tailored to specific target groups without losing sight of supposedly engaged groups such as young people. "Interactive formats or health-related information could make the topic more tangible. Risks must be communicated realistically, but communication should also highlight solutions and possible courses of action," explains Lehrer, first author of the publication.

In March 2025, two new doctoral students, Lisa Marie Hempel and Kira Maur, will start their research work in the PACE project. Together with the project team, they have already developed measurements of actual political participation behaviour in order to investigate the predictive power of the PACE model in greater depth. In her work, Kira Maur wants to better understand the gap between behavioural intention and actual behaviour in climate protection. Lisa Marie Hempel wants to investigate, among other things, how perceived injustices caused by climate change affect the willingness to take action against climate change (e.g. differences between groups in the causation of climate change).

"We are looking forward to working in an interdisciplinary team on effective strategies to help people live healthier and more climate-friendly lives," say Maur and Hempel.

In addition to the BNITM and the IPB, the Robert Koch Institute, the Federal Centre for Health Education, the Leibniz Institute of Psychology and the Science Media Center are also involved in PACE.