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The Social Impact of the Green Transition: Measures, Methods, and Tools |
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| Session Organisers | Dr Yuri Pettinicchi (SHARE) Dr Ruxandra Comanaru (European Social Survey (ESS)) Dr Vytenis Deimantas (Generations and Gender Programme (GGP)) Professor Rory Fitzgerald (European Social Survey (ESS)) Professor Anne Gauthier (Generations and Gender Programme (GGP)) Professor David Richter (SHARE) |
| Time | Tuesday 18 July, 09:00 - 10:30 |
| Room | |
European survey projects have often employed different approaches to data collection, lacking specificity in addressing the impact of the green transition on the opinions, behaviours, socio-economic situations, and choices of Europeans. This gap has hindered a comprehensive understanding of how the green transition affects various European population groups and generations.
This session explores the latest advancements in survey projects, emphasizing innovative methods and technologies that enhance the collection of environmental data related to respondents' living environments. Recent developments have underscored the potential of understanding environmental aspects throughout the life course of the European population. These approaches can bridge studies of the interplay between the environment and individual choices, ultimately shaping future outcomes.
We invite papers that highlight new methodologies and tools to address research questions on the green transition. We are particularly interested in:
1. Survey Instruments: Batteries of questions designed to capture environmental aspects critical to addressing green transition research questions.
2. External Sources: Potential datasets that can enrich survey data, such as climate and air quality data, data on green spaces, public transportation, and accessibility of services supporting a socially green transition.
3. Methods: Approaches to linking external data to survey data using granular geographic information while addressing ethical and legal concerns.
4. Policy Involvement: Case studies and insights from the involvement of various stakeholders in social and environmental studies, and their interaction with policymakers.
This session aims to provide a comprehensive overview of current trends and future directions in survey data collection on the green transition, fostering a rich exchange of knowledge and experiences. We encourage presentations that not only showcase technical advancements but also discuss the political implications and lessons learned from current projects.
Dr Gianmaria Bottoni (City St George's, University of London) - Presenting Author
Professor Rory Fitzgerald (City St George's, University of London)
Ms Loren Ma (City St George's, University of London)
Climate change and the green transition have social impacts that influence individuals and their life trajectories, as well as, societies, and countries. These consequences exert a differential effect on various social groups, with some being particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
To address these challenges –social inequalities, job polarization, job restructuring, shifts in skill requirements, housing issues, the adequacy of welfare systems – the ESS is deploying its well-established cross-national web-interviewing infrastructure (CRONOS) to gather data and contribute to analyses of the societal impacts of the green transition. The goal is to provide comprehensive information to support evidence-based policymaking.
The CRONOS panel was first launched in 2017, which served to demonstrate the feasibility of a web panel with characteristics like central administration of the survey operations, cross-national setting, and piggy-backing recruitment approach. Building on the previous pioneering success, the ESS launched CRONOS 2 in 2021 to provide and develop additional cross-national web-interviewing capacity across a much wider group of European countries. Most recently, CRONOS 3 was launched in September 2024 with the aim of fielding modules of items focused on the five Next Generation EU pillars – Make It Green, Make It Digital, Make It Healthy, Make It Strong, Make It Equal – to help the transition toward a healthier, greener and digital future. For the SoGreen project starting in 2025, the CRONOS panel will be used to field items focused on the green transition, the Green New Deal and related challenges.
The paper will outline the development process for the CRONOS 3 panel, which will serve as a platform for collecting data on the green transition. In particular, the paper will detail the methods and outcomes, and discuss differences in recruitment, response rates, and sample composition across participating countries.
Professor Wouter Poortinga (Cardiff University ) - Presenting Author
It is widely assumed that younger generations are more concerned about climate change than older ones and demand stronger action. This assumption seems intuitive, given that younger people have grown up in a world more aware of climate change and face greater long-term impacts. There is evidence to suggest that there is an age gap in climate-related concern, with younger generations showing stronger emotional engagement with the topic. However, most studies are limited to a few (predominantly Anglophone) countries, and there are questions about whether these differences extend to other dimensions of climate perception or translate into greater support for ambitious climate action. This presentation uses data from the “Public Attitudes to Climate Change and Energy” module, fielded in Round 8 of the European Social Survey (ESS). The module drew upon the Value-Beliefs-Norms (VBN) model (Stern, 2000) and the collective action model (Lubell, 2002) to illuminate the psychological mechanisms underpinning pro-environmental behaviour and policy support. The presentation explores generational differences in 23 European countries in relation to the different components of the conceptual model of the module, i.e., (1) climate change beliefs, (2) climate change concerns, (3) personal norms, efficacy, and trust, and (4) climate policy and action. This comprehensive approach provides new insights into generational divides in climate-related perceptions across a broad geographic scope. The presentation will discuss the implications of the findings for designing equitable and effective climate policies across Europe.
Dr Alex Fenton (SHARE Berlin Institute) - Presenting Author
Dr Stefan Gruber (SHARE Berlin Institute)
Ms Stephanie Stuck (SHARE Berlin Institute)
Professor David Richter (SHARE Berlin Institute)
Older adults are particularly vulnerable to climate-related hazards such as extreme heat, flooding, and severe storms. However, their perspectives and contributions to climate resilience and the green transition remain underrepresented in research. With the SoGreen project, SHARE aims to assess gain insights into the perception of the green transition and its implications of individuals aged 50 and above. SHARE will field a self-completion questionnaire (SCQ) in six countries. Application of the green transition module to SHARE panel respondents will enrich the analytical power of the collected micro data, by linking it to the broad range of the collected information on panel respondents, their life histories, employment and working experiences, health status, life satisfaction, and others.
In addition to the micro data collection, SHARE will develop and implement procedures to enhance the availability of previously unavailable detailed regional data covering most of the European countries to researchers. The primary goal is to enable deeper and more nuanced insights into regional variations regarding the green transition and climate change. The availability of geo-referenced data for in-depth regional analyses will offer valuable information on geographical differences regarding the green transition in Europe. This will be particularly influential in shaping policies for Europe's population and could have a substantive impact on people's lives. In a further step, the survey data of SHARE, ESS and GGP will be linked with indicator variables of climate and air quality as part of the SoGreen project.
Mr Tom Behringer (RTPU Kaiserslautern)
Professor Andreas Diekmann (Universität Leipzig, ETH Zürich)
Mr Felix Ries (Universität Leipzig) - Presenting Author
CO2-Module by Tom Behringer, Andreas Diekmann, Felix Ries
Project German Longitudinal Environmental Survey (GLEN)
Katrin Auspurg, Henning Best, Christiane Bozoyan, Andreas Diekmann, Claudia Schmiedeberg
Traditional surveys on environmental behavior often rely on intentional, self-reported actions, such as recycling, turning off lights when leaving a room, or purchasing eco-friendly products. While valuable, these measurements only provide limited insight into the broader behavioral domains that significantly impact individual CO₂ emissions. This contribution introduces a comprehensive survey module designed to capture individual CO₂ emissions in four critical domains: mobility, housing, diet, and consumption.
Integrated into the 12-year German Longitudinal Environmental Study (GLEN), the module enables detailed tracking of individual-level environmental impacts over time. By capturing key life events such as job transitions or leaving school, it tracks how CO₂ emissions evolve across different life stages. Additionally, it allows for the analysis of the influence of external factors, such as policy changes, changing CO₂ prices, or natural disasters, offering insights into the interaction between personal behavior and systemic changes. Furthermore, its linkage to attitudinal data facilitates exploration of how values, beliefs, and norms shape behavior.
Compared to other surveys, this CO2-module is more detailed, capturing how lifestyle changes as well as investments in new technology in roghly 50 categories influence the individual CO₂ emissions. Unlike commercial CO₂-calculators, which often lack transparency, this module explicitly documents estimation principles, assumptions, and data sources, ensuring replicability and reliability.
By combining behavioral, attitudinal, and contextual data, the module enables systematic investigation of individual-level environmental impacts over time. Its unique design provides researchers a novel framework for analyzing environmental behavior dynamics and their relationship to inequality, spatial contexts, and systemic and policy shifts. Data from the first panel wave will be collected in spring 2025, allowing initial results to be presented.