Attitudes Towards Climate Change and Electric Car Purchase – The Case of European Consumers

Purpose – Climate change and other environmental issues require adequate solutions by all actors, including consumers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of consumers’ willingness to fight climate change and the probability of their purchase of an electric car, as an action that potentially helps mitigate climate change. Design/Methodology/Approach – The analysis relies on Eurobarometer survey responses of 25,009 individuals from 28 European countries. The determinants of probability of taking action to fight climate change and the determinants of probability of buying an electric car are identified using the Heckman selection model. Findings and implications – The results show that people who are aware of the gravity of climate change and believe that it requires action at all levels of government, business sectors and citizens are more likely to engage in pro-environmental actions. As for electric car purchase, consumers belonging to the middle class and higher classes as well as consumers satisfied with their lives are more likely to buy electric cars than others. However, their attitudes to climate change and actors responsible for it have no impact on their actual purchase. Limitations – The main limitation of this research study is associated with the choice of variables, which was limited to those available in the Eurobarometer survey. Originality – This paper contributes to a better understanding of factors behind environmentally friendly behavior and purchase of electric cars on a large sample of European consumers. Unlike most of the research in this field, the analysis is based on actual purchase data instead of purchase intention.