Students’ Environmental Awareness and Low-Carbon Behavior: Exploring the Differences

Young people are generally well aware of the importance of transitioning to a low-carbon economy. However, there is a significant gap between awareness of the importance of a low-carbon transition and actual behavior. The main aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between these two dimensions and, accordingly, using the k-means cluster method, create a typology of young people, Croatian university students. In addition, the paper is focused on examining the association between cluster membership and selected demographic variables. The application of the cluster method on the data collected by a survey in 2021 resulted in three significantly different, stable, and meaningful clusters. They differ in the extent to which respondents are aware of the importance of a low-carbon economy and the extent to which they engage in low-carbon behavior. The first cluster includes about 5% of respondents who are quite skeptical but often engaged in low-carbon activities. The second cluster includes trusting respondents who sometimes engage in low-carbon activities. This cluster consists of about 68% of respondents. The last cluster includes skeptical respondents who are mostly opposed (rarely active) to low-carbon behavior. The non-parametric chi-square tests suggest that, unlike the selected demographic variables (e.g., gender, financial situation, previously completed study program, field of education, or household size), there is not enough evidence to confirm the existence of the association between rural/urban living environment and cluster membership.