Emission reduction remains public’s preferred approach to climate change

Americans continue to favor reducing greenhouse gas emissions as their preferred approach for staving off the worst impacts of climate change, according to new public opinion findings. The public remains considerably more skeptical of any pivot from mitigation toward climate policy that prioritizes adaptation, use of geoengineering that releases particles into the atmosphere in attempting to deter warming, or subterranean carbon storage. These findings emerge from the Winter 2022 National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE). …

Are Americans ready to punt on mitigation and embrace alternatives? Given a choice of three distinct options for addressing climate change, pursuit of greenhouse gas reductions was favored (42%) over adapting to a warmer world (13%) or promoting geoengineering and related efforts (20%). Ten percent of respondents noted that all three were equally important. CONTINUED

Barry G. Rabe (U. of Michigan) & Christopher Borick (Muhlenberg College), Brookings Institution


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