Misunderstandings in the relative efficacy of pro-environmental behaviors may have important consequences for climate mitigation efforts. In this study, we evaluate the ability to perceive the carbon footprint associated with individual actions, known as “carbon numeracy,” in 965 members of the North American public using ranking and tradeoff questions. The questions are designed to independently assess the role of knowledge, ability to do tradeoffs, and basic numeracy skills in determining carbon numeracy. We report multiple lines of evidence suggesting that people underestimate greenhouse gas emissions associated with air travel and, to a lesser extent, meat consumption. They are also largely incapable of making tradeoffs between different actions (e.g., the number of hamburgers that would be equivalent to a trans-Atlantic flight in terms of climate impact). Concern for climate change, political orientation, and education were not significant predictors of accuracy in making tradeoffs, but basic numeracy was linked with increased accuracy. The results suggest that further education may be necessary to improve carbon numeracy by providing the public with a basic hierarchy of actions according to carbon reduction efficacy. Consumers seeking to balance their carbon budgets may benefit from external aids (e.g., carbon labels associated with actions) to guide emission-related decision-making.

中文翻译：

---

人们对个人行为对气候影响的了解程度如何？

对环保行为的相对功效的误解可能对减缓气候变化的努力产生重要影响。在这项研究中，我们使用排名和权衡问题评估了 965 名北美公众成员感知与个人行为相关的碳足迹的能力，称为“碳计算”。这些问题旨在独立评估知识、权衡能力和基本计算技能在确定碳计算中的作用。我们报告了多项证据，表明人们低估了与航空旅行相关的温室气体排放量，并在较小程度上低估了肉类消费。他们也基本上无法在不同的行动之间进行权衡（例如，在气候影响方面相当于跨大西洋飞行的汉堡包数量）。对气候变化、政治取向和教育的关注并不是权衡准确性的重要预测因素，但基本计算与准确性的提高有关。结果表明，通过根据碳减排效果向公众提供基本的行动等级，可能需要进一步教育以提高碳计算能力。寻求平衡碳预算的消费者可能会受益于外部援助（例如，与行动相关的碳标签）以指导与排放相关的决策。结果表明，通过根据碳减排效果向公众提供基本的行动等级，可能需要进一步教育以提高碳计算能力。寻求平衡碳预算的消费者可能会受益于外部援助（例如，与行动相关的碳标签）以指导与排放相关的决策。结果表明，通过根据碳减排效果向公众提供基本的行动等级，可能需要进一步教育以提高碳计算能力。寻求平衡碳预算的消费者可能会受益于外部援助（例如，与行动相关的碳标签）以指导与排放相关的决策。