IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v15y2025i7d10.1038_s41558-025-02372-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world

Author

Listed:
  • Viktoria Cologna

    (ETH Zurich
    Collegium Helveticum
    Harvard University)

  • Simona Meiler

    (ETH Zurich
    Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss)

  • Chahan M. Kropf

    (ETH Zurich
    Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss)

  • Samuel Lüthi

    (ETH Zurich)

  • Niels G. Mede

    (University of Zurich)

  • David N. Bresch

    (ETH Zurich
    Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss)

  • Oscar Lecuona

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

  • Sebastian Berger

    (University of Bern)

  • John Besley

    (Michigan State University)

  • Cameron Brick

    (University of Amsterdam
    University of Inland Norway)

  • Marina Joubert

    (Stellenbosch University)

  • Edward W. Maibach

    (George Mason University)

  • Sabina Mihelj

    (Loughborough University)

  • Naomi Oreskes

    (Harvard University)

  • Mike S. Schäfer

    (University of Zurich)

  • Sander van der Linden

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change. Yet, little is known about the relationship between exposure to extreme events, subjective attribution of these events to climate change, and climate policy support, especially in the Global South. Combining large-scale natural and social science data from 68 countries (N = 71,922), we develop a measure of exposed population to extreme weather events and investigate whether exposure to extreme weather and subjective attribution of extreme weather to climate change predict climate policy support. We find that most people support climate policies and link extreme weather events to climate change. Subjective attribution of extreme weather was positively associated with policy support for five widely discussed climate policies. However, exposure to most types of extreme weather event did not predict policy support. Overall, these results suggest that subjective attribution could facilitate climate policy support.

Suggested Citation

  • Viktoria Cologna & Simona Meiler & Chahan M. Kropf & Samuel Lüthi & Niels G. Mede & David N. Bresch & Oscar Lecuona & Sebastian Berger & John Besley & Cameron Brick & Marina Joubert & Edward W. Maibac, 2025. "Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 15(7), pages 725-735, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:15:y:2025:i:7:d:10.1038_s41558-025-02372-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-025-02372-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02372-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41558-025-02372-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:15:y:2025:i:7:d:10.1038_s41558-025-02372-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.