Disclosing the Naysayers : socio-demographic characteristics as predictors of Climate Change Scepticism in the Netherlands

There has been increasing scientific consensus regarding the existence of a dangerous anthropogenically induced climatic change. In contrast, the amount of people that deny climate change, so-called climate change sceptics, is also increasing. Policies and actions are urgently needed to mitigate climate change. However, climate change sceptics impede the implementation of green policies. To increase the chance of successfully implementing measures to combat climate change, climate change sceptics need to be targeted specifically during pro-environmental campaigns. To do so, it needs to be disclosed who these sceptics are. Consequently, this study aimed to identify socio-demographics that are predictors of climate change scepticism in the Netherlands. The concept of climate change scepticism is operationalized into three scepticism breadths and nine underlying scepticism classifications. Through the means of an online survey (N=1012), a socio-demographical profile was identified for the classifications, breadths and for climate change scepticism in general. Although the profiles differ, the socio-demographics are consistent in their relation to climate change scepticism. In the case of significant relations, scepticism is consistently associated with the male gender, high age, low educational level, residence rurality, residence vulnerability, conservatism and liberalism.