Exploring clusters of perceived climate change risks and impacts across countries with different exposure

Variability in climate change risk perception tends to be greater within countries than between them. The article aims to analyse how climate change risk perception is related to climate change impact perception among individuals across countries with different climate change risk exposure. Analysis is based on the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) module "Environment IV" data of 2020-2022. A two-step cluster analysis performed across the multi-country sample identified three clusters based on individual-level patterns of risk and impact perception. The first cluster, "vigilant", is characterised by high risk perception and low impact perception; the second cluster, "disquieted", displays high risk perception and high impact perception; and the third cluster, "reluctant", has moderate risk and impact perception. Findings show that the distribution of clusters differs significantly between groups of countries with different climate change exposure, suggesting that exposure influences the cognitive framing that links perceived risks and impacts of climate change.