Social psychology of climate change in the Asian context: Introduction to special issue

• Main Authors: TAM, Kim-Pong, LEUNG, Angela K. Y., CLAYTON, Susan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: Climate change; social psychology; Asia Pacific; Environmental Sciences; Social Psychology; Social Psychology and Interaction
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3346; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4603/viewcontent/Social_psy_climate_change_editorial_2021_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing many countries in the Asia Pacific. Asia as a whole is a primary contributor to carbon emissions. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2020, the Asia Pacific region alone accounts for more than half of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. This represents an increase in consumption of oil, gas, and coal in Asia Pacific from 44.5% in 2009 to 50.5% in 2019. According to the review, compared to the rest of the world, Asia Pacific had the highest growth rate (2.7%) of carbon emissions between 2008 and 2018 (North America: −0.8%, South and Central America: 1.1%, Europe: −1.5%, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): 0.5%, Middle East: 2.6%, Africa: 2.0%). Based on multiple data sources (CAIT Climate Data Explorer by World Resources Institute, 2020), 4 of the top-10 countries with the most greenhouse gas emissions are Asian, which include China (1st), India (3rd), Indonesia (5th), and Japan (7th). In view of the impending threat of anthropogenic climate change in the Asian regions, the role of Asian social psychology in offering insights on the reactions to and impacts of climate change cannot be understated. The current special issue represents one important attempt to bring together research that sets out to enrich the social psychological understanding of climate change.