Climate Outreach
x
  • Sign up for monthly updates on our new research and practical guides, upcoming events, team vacancies and occasional fundraising initiatives. You may review our privacy notice.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Newsletter Sign-up
  • Donate
  • About us
    • We are Europe's leading climate change communicators, bridging the gap between research and practice and helping to widen engagement across a broader spectrum of society.
      • Purpose
      • Our Services
      • Team
      • Partners & Funders
      • Join us
    • Close
  • Our Work
    • We partner with leading academic teams to research some of the most central questions about climate change communication and translate this work into practical resources and workshops for our partners.
      • Advice & Training
      • Communications Research
      • Widening Engagement
    • Close
  • Our Resources
    • We’ve designed our resources to be practical tools for anyone interested in communicating about climate change more effectively. We’d love to hear how you are using them and welcome all feedback.
    • By Programme
      • Science Comms
      • Global Narratives
      • Climate Visuals
      • Climate Impacts
      • Centre-right
      • Faith
      • Young Voices
      • Migration
      • Solutions
      • Business
      • All
    • Research Resources
      • Research Library
      • Research Round-Up
    • Close
  • Events
      • In order to spark new climate conversations, we run a wide range of public events. These include workshops, presentations, online webinars and book launches.
      • Forthcoming Events
      • Past Events (recordings)
    • Close
  • Blog
    • We invite readers to comment on our articles and contribute to the discussion.
      • All
      • Centre-right
      • Climate Visuals
      • Faith
      • Youth
      • Migration
      • Climate Impacts
    • Close
  • In the news
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Climate Visuals Home
  • Project
  • Galleries
  • The Research
  • Blog
  • I want images that…
    • …people easily understand
    • …evoke positive emotions
    • …evoke negative emotions
    • …are likely to be shared
    • …encourage change and a demand for change
    • …link climate change to everyday concerns
    • …promote positive social norms
Home  »  Research Library  »  Climate change or nuclear power – No thanks! A quantitative study of public perceptions and risk framing in Britain.

Climate change or nuclear power – No thanks! A quantitative study of public perceptions and risk framing in Britain.

Pidgeon, N., Lorenzoni, I., & Poortinga, W. (2008). Climate change or nuclear power–No thanks! A quantitative study of public perceptions and risk framing in Britain. Global Environmental Change, 18(1), 69-85. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2007.09.005

Abstract

The UK is witnessing a new line in political debate around new nuclear energy generation as one potential feature of future energy policy, specifically for contributing to climate change mitigation alongside energy security. Little is known about how ordinary citizens might be responding to this reframing. This paper reports the results from a major British survey (n=1491) undertaken in the autumn of 2005. The consistent message is that while higher proportions of the British public are prepared to accept nuclear power if they believe it contributes to climate change mitigation, this is a highly conditional view, with very few actively preferring this over renewable sources given the choice. People see both climate change and nuclear power as problematic in terms of risks and express only a ‘reluctant acceptance’ of nuclear power as a ‘solution’ to climate change. The combined data from this survey can also be interpreted as an indication of the complexity surrounding beliefs about energy futures and the difficulty of undertaking simplistic risk–risk tradeoffs within any single framing of the issues; such as nuclear energy versus climate change. The results also indicate that it would be unwise, in the UK as elsewhere, to simplistically assume that there exists any single or stable public ‘opinion’ on such complex matters. We conclude with a discussion of the role and implications of the survey evidence for the policy process.

Link

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378007000623

Reference

Lorenzoni, I; Pidgeon, N; Poortinga, W (2008). Climate change or nuclear power – No thanks! A quantitative study of public perceptions and risk framing in Britain. Global Environmental Change 18(1), 69-85.

Tags

2008 Britain change Climate framing Global Environmental Change Nuclear perceptions Power public quantitative risk study thanks

« Back to research library

 

Climate Outreach is a charitable company, limited by guarantee, founded in 2004 to increase public understanding and awareness of climate change.

Climate Outreach Information Network is now trading as ‘Climate Outreach’: charity registration number 1123315, company number is 06459313, registered in England and Wales.

Read our Privacy Policy

Website by Hands Up

 

CONTACT DETAILS

Tel: +44 (0)1865 403334

Climate Outreach, The Old Music Hall, 106-108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JE

info@climateoutreach.org

Share This
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn