Climate change and individual behavior

This paper studies the causal effect of providing information about climate changeon individuals’ willingness to pay to offset carbon emissions in a randomizedcontrol trial. Receiving truthful information about ways to reduce CO2 emis-sions increases individuals’ willingness to pay for CO2 offsetting relative to thecontrol group. Individuals receiving information about the behavior of peersreact similarly to those receiving information about scientific research. Individ-uals’ responses vary depending on their socio-demographic characteristics andalso along a rich set of prior beliefs and concerns regarding climate change. Ina follow-up survey, we study the endogenous information acquisition of surveyparticipants and show that individuals choose information that aligns with theirviews. Individuals who choose to receive information about climate changehave a higher willingness to pay for CO2 offsets.