Environmental Ideology and Household Energy Conservation in Beijing

During a period of extraordinary urban growth, China's per-capita carbon footprint could soar. A growth in households' willingness to purchase “green” products and to engage in voluntary restraint could help offset this pollution increase as the free market will design products to cater to this group of consumers. We study whether Chinese urbanites who label themselves as environmentalists consume fewer resources than the average urbanite. Based on a sample of Beijing's micro data drawn from the household survey on energy consumption in China, we document the association between a household's environmental ideology and its energy conservation behavior. Our findings imply that government's demand-side efforts such as environmental education and persuasion may help to bring about more sustainable behaviors