Do spatial climate messages increase pro-environmental engagement? Evidence from a survey experiment on public transport

Using a survey experiment among a special sample composed of art house cinema visitors, we investigate whether spatial climate messages increase subjects’ willingness to pay for an inclusion of public transport fares in cinema tickets as well as their willingness to use public transport in case such a combined ticket is introduced. Based on previous findings, we expect emphasizing the positive impact of public transport usage on the local level to have a greater effect on subjects’ preferences for public transport than a message that highlights the global consequences. Contrary to these expectations, our results show that the global treatment increases subjects’ willingness to pay compared to the local treatment and the baseline. Both treatments increase subjects’ willingness to use public transport. Conducting a sub-sample analysis, we find that also the local message increases the willingness to pay for a combined ticket among respondents who lack a financial interest as they already own a season ticket for public transport.