TY - JOUR
T1 - Climate change skepticism of European farmers and implications for effective policy actions
AU - Kröner, Lea
AU - van Grinsven, Hans J.M.
AU - Erisman, Jan Willem
AU - Graversgaard, Morten
AU - Immerzeel, Tim
AU - Olesen, Jørgen Eivind
AU - Rodríguez, Alfredo
AU - Soriano, Bárbara
AU - Sanz-Cobena, Alberto
AU - van der Lippe, Tanja
PY - 2025/12
Y1 - 2025/12
N2 - European farmers struggle with mitigating global emissions of greenhouse gases effectively and to cope with climate change. European regulators and national governments encounter obstacles in implementing environmental policies, feeding frustration amongst farmers. We hypothesize that these issues relate to climate change skepticism within the farming community and dissensus with non-farmers and between countries. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed climate attribution and impact skepticism amongst farmers and the rest of the working population using the Eurobarometer and the European Social Survey, and national data about gross domestic product (GDP), innovativeness, share of agricultural land, and climate damage risk for agriculture. Impact skepticism of farmers increases with decreasing risk of climate damage and increasing GDP, causing a South-North gradient in Europe. The majority of farmers in the EU countries were more skeptical than non-farmers. Understanding and reducing this skepticism provides a key to more effective mitigation and adaptation.
AB - European farmers struggle with mitigating global emissions of greenhouse gases effectively and to cope with climate change. European regulators and national governments encounter obstacles in implementing environmental policies, feeding frustration amongst farmers. We hypothesize that these issues relate to climate change skepticism within the farming community and dissensus with non-farmers and between countries. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed climate attribution and impact skepticism amongst farmers and the rest of the working population using the Eurobarometer and the European Social Survey, and national data about gross domestic product (GDP), innovativeness, share of agricultural land, and climate damage risk for agriculture. Impact skepticism of farmers increases with decreasing risk of climate damage and increasing GDP, causing a South-North gradient in Europe. The majority of farmers in the EU countries were more skeptical than non-farmers. Understanding and reducing this skepticism provides a key to more effective mitigation and adaptation.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105005599114
U2 - 10.1038/s43247-025-02304-2
DO - 10.1038/s43247-025-02304-2
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 40416650
AN - SCOPUS:105005599114
SN - 2662-4435
VL - 6
JO - Communications Earth and Environment
JF - Communications Earth and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 396
ER -