This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Scientists who believe technology will largely solve the problems caused by climate change are 23% less likely to engage in civic climate action and 18% less likely to make high-impact lifestyle changes compared with scientists who disagree with this belief. This is the key finding from a new study by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), published today (Oct. 7) in Environmental Research Letters.
In a survey of more than 9,000 scientists across 115 countries, 27% said they agreed with the statement that "technology will largely solve the problems caused by climate change." In comparison, 44% disagreed with the statement (29% neither agreed nor disagreed). Scientists who agreed that technology will largely solve the problems caused by climate change (techno-optimists) reported engaging in fewer civic actions than those who disagreed. They reported signing fewer petitions (41% versus 52%), engaging in less protest (17% versus 28%) and engaging in less advocacy (25% versus 33%).
Likewise, this group reported making fewer high-impact lifestyle changes. For example, techno-optimistic scientists were less likely to report reducing their flying (43% versus 57%), reducing their car use (62% versus 74%) or following a mostly vegan or vegetarian diet (31% versus 45%). The differences in technology-oriented climate actions such as switching to an electric vehicle (18% versus 21%) and switching to renewable energy at home (46% versus 47%) were negligible.
The researchers also found that techno-optimism is most prevalent among scientists with right-leaning political views. The scientists were asked to rate their political leanings on a scale from 1 (most left-leaning) to 7 (most right-leaning). Only 16% of left-leaning scientists (who identified with 1 and 2 on the scale) were techno-optimists compared with 48% of right-leaning scientists (who identified with 6 and 7 on the scale).
There was also variation across scientific fields, with the percentage of techno-optimists highest in applied sciences (31%) and natural sciences (29%) and lowest in the social and behavioral sciences (23%) and humanities (23%). In the report, the authors raise concerns about reliance on technological solutions, stating: "The belief that technology will largely solve climate change and its consequences, what we refer to as techno-optimism, can lead to an overreliance on technological solutions at the expense of far-reaching socioeconomic transformations needed to address climate change. "For example, current climate change mitigation scenarios rely heavily on the rollout of speculative negative emissions technologies in the future.
This reliance has wide-ranging societal implications: it hampers the development of alternative decarbonization pathways that focus on the behavioral, political and structural changes needed to advance sustainability transformation and deflects attention from the urgent need for immediate emission reductions." Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. d research that matter—daily or weekly. Commenting on the findings, lead author Dr. Fabian Dablander from the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science and the Global School of Sustainability at LSE said, "Technological solutions are often politically attractive because they promise to address climate change without requiring changes to how people live and consume.
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