LUCSUS seminar: "What researchers think about the environmental crisis and how to respond: evidence from global surveys"

Manuel Suter, Visiting Research Fellow, School of Social Work & LUCSUS

How do researchers understand the environmental crisis, and which responses do they recommend or perceive as feasible? This talk synthesises evidence from global surveys and experiments with academic experts across economics and environmental and sustainability-related fields. Across four studies, I show that (1) environmental scientists list a broader set of environmental challenges than economists, and recognising more issues is linked to greater support for far-reaching mitigation approaches; (2) academics diverge strongly in their beliefs about “green growth”, with endorsement closely tied to views on the role of economic growth for human well-being; (3) experts’ preferences for “optimal” GDP development are highly sensitive to framing; and (4) many sustainability policy researchers view a range of policy instruments discussed in post-growth scholarship as both feasible and high-potential.