Is knowledge on climate change a driver of consumer purchase decisions in Poland? The case of grocery goods and green banking

Climate change is an increasingly analyzed and debated phenomenon. As human activity is causing global warming, mitigation policy should focus on fostering pro-climate consumer behavior. The aim of this study is to verify the importance of knowledge about climate change for both pro-climate consumer behavior and purchase decisions. Hence, we conducted a survey in May 2021 among 1000 Polish citizens. Among OECD countries, Poland has one of the most carbon-intensive economies. Using instrumental variable analysis and ordinal logistic regression, we show that society's scale of pro-climatic consumer behavior is positively driven by knowledge about climate change. Thus, the results of the study indicate that climate education should be an inherent element of climate policy. Climate change education needs to be especially targeted towards young-adults and poorly-educated people, who were found to express less pro-climate consumer behavior.