Do people pay attention to climate change? Evidence from Italy.

We investigate the determinants of people's attention to climate change in Italy. We propose a Twitter-based indicator consistent with traditional survey data but potentially available at a higher frequency and spatial granularity. We show that attention to climate change is heterogeneous across the country and correlated with socioeconomic characteristics and social capital. Mass media and social movements have a relevant impact on people's attention about climate change while the effect of private experience – proxied by the occurrence of extreme weather events – is more limited. • In recent years, attention to climate change has urged, accompanied by a worsening of the overall sentiment about the issue • Attention to climate change correlates with socioeconomic characteristics, media coverage, and social movement initiatives • Heat waves draw attention to climate change, while cold waves merely shape weather discussions • Experiencing an extreme weather event has a limited, but still significant, impact on the attention to climate change [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]