Download Cultural differences between USA and EU

The USA and Europe:
Cultural perspectives to the climate
change negotiations
Bert Metz
RIVM, The Netherlands
Pew Centre Conference on Equity and Global Climate Change,
Washington DC, April 17-18, 2001
MNV/BM/O1
Cultural differences between USA and
Europe: environmental/ climate change issues
USA
Europe
 Emissions trading
 Negotiating style
Positive
Aggressive/ flexible
 Implementation
philosophy
Legalistic/
be sure to deliver
Sceptical
Passive/
inflexible
Political/
aim high and
try
MNV/BM/O2
Cultural differences between USA and
Europe: risk perception and decision making
USA
Europe
 Decision making framework
Cost-benefit/ risk based





Public decision making
Role of science
Trust in government
Media
Influence of lobbies on
politics
 Resource use attitude
 Environmental protection
Crossfire
Argument
Low
Drama
High
Cost-effectiveness/
precautionary
Consensus building
Truth
High
Information
Moderate
Frontier
Health oriented
Scarcity
Ecologically oriented
 Sensitivity to doom
 Risk perception
Low
Controlable
High
Thresholds
MNV/BM/O3
Ecological risk perception
Greenpeace
USA
EU
Economic risk perception
USA
MNV/BM/O4
EU
Greenpeace
Cultural differences between USA and
Europe: view of the world
 Trust in UN
 Dependence on
world
 International
agreements
 Christianity
 Importance of
equity
MNV/BM/O5
USA
Low
Low
Europe
Moderate
High
Strong views/ stay
out
Active
participant/
sloppy
compliance
Stewardship
High
Interpersonal
Low
CO2
Cumulative CO2
CO2 per capita
Annex-I
NonAnnex-I
Annex-I vs
non-Annex I
contributions
to climate
change (IPCC
A1B scenario)
MNV/BM/O6
All GHGs
Temp increase Temp incr per cap