Environmental Concerns and Pro-Environmental Behaviours in Shanghai – Closing the Environmental Concern-Behaviour Gap

Abstract

Environmental issues are among the biggest problems of our time. While green technology and global initiatives are steps in the right direction, there is an environmental concernbehaviour gap among individuals that prevents successful implementation. Despite the government’s attempts to promote green development, China is one of the world’s worst environmental offenders. China’s household registration system – Hukou – climate change and resource scarcity are among the push-factors for many rural citizens to move to urban areas in search for a better life. This migrant population tends to settle in urban villages where they lack basic services and suffers from reduced social opportunities and benefits. Urbanisation and change of lifestyles cause inequality, increase pressure on already scarce natural resources, and contribute to enhanced greenhouse gas emissions. Individual concerns and behaviours regarding environmental problems are therefore key issues in the fight against climate change. Existing literature on environmental concerns in China shows that urban, well-educated and rich citizens tend to be more environmentally concerned than their rural, less-educated and poor counterparts. They also find that the behaviours of the Chinese people do not correspond with their concerns. This research provides a tool to help close this environmental concernbehaviour gap. It contributes to the existing literature by including the Hukou system as an influencing factor, and the rural migrants in Shanghai as a unique social group. The findings of this mixed-method research show that bodily experiences have a profound impact upon the concerns for environmental issues as well as pro-environmental behaviours. It is argued that the Shanghainese lifestyle is so busy that they do not have the time to think before they act. Instead, they act out of habits based on a mindset of saving money first. This thesis suggests that standardised systems and enforced behaviours can convert these habits into saving the environment first, and help closing the environmental concern-behaviour gap. Due to citizens’ economic priority and health concerns, environmental information encouraged by economic incentives and health benefits might serve as impetuses for increased environmental concerns and pro-environmental behaviours.