This study explores the gap between attitudes and behaviors regarding the purchase of voluntary carbon offsets by Australian consumers. The researchers conducted a survey of 83 respondents to test four hypotheses: 1) There is a gap between positive climate change attitudes and actual purchases. 2) Attitudes predict purchase intentions. 3) Purchases are low due to lack of knowledge. 4) Purchases are difficult. The results supported all hypotheses, finding an attitude-behavior gap, a relationship between attitudes and intentions, lower knowledge among non-purchasers, and perceptions of difficulty. The study contributes to understanding how to increase knowledge and access to encourage more pro-environmental behavior.

1. The Purchase of Voluntary Carbon Offsets by
Australian Consumers: Exploring the Attitude-
Behaviour Gap
Sarah Sloan and Jannie Adamsen
Presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Conference (ANZMAC)
Nov 28 – Dec 1 2011, Perth, Australia

2. Background
Global concern for sustainability
increased in recent years.
• Businesses
Compliance • Legislated
Issue of carbon regulation fiercely
debated in public eye recently.
• Primarily Consumers
A number of initiatives in place Voluntary • Purchased
• $387m worldwide in 2009
to reduce Australia’s carbon
footprint, including purchase
of carbon offsets.
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3. Voluntary Carbon Offsets
All purchases of carbon credits not driven by existing regulatory compliance
obligation.
For example, when purchasing a flight you are given the opportunity to
offset your flight.
Carbon offsets originate from emissions reduction projects and are thus
offsets.
Market has been characterised by an absence of publicly available
information and lack of transparency.
Australian markets represent just 1.2% of worldwide markets.
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4. Research Question and Hypotheses
RQ: Does an attitude-behaviour gap exist with regards to the purchase of
voluntary carbon offsets, and if so, why?
H1: There is minimal translation of attitudes towards climate change into
subsequent behaviour of buying carbon offsets.
H2: Attitudes are an indicator of future purchase intentions.
H3: Purchases of voluntary carbon offsets are low due to a lack of consumer
knowledge.
H4: Consumers do not purchase carbon offsets as they perceive this to be
hard to do.
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5. Green Consumerism
Concern about environmental sustainability and climate change has
increased dramatically in the last decade.
Starting to affect the way consumers behave.
No research into purchase of voluntary carbon offsets.
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6. Attitude Behaviour Gap
Well established attitude-behaviour gap with regards to green behaviour.
Attitudes towards the environment are mainly positive, but behaviour is not
consistent with these attitudes.
Concern for the environment does not translate into actual purchases.
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7. Theory of Planned Behaviour
Attitude behaviour gap questions TPB (Ajzen, 1985).
TPB is an extension of original Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein
& Ajzen, 1975).
Proposes the most immediate and important predictor of behaviour is an
intention to perform it.
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8. Methodology
Cross sectional data obtained over 2 week period
83 respondents
Invitations to an online survey were sent by email and through social media.
Convenience sampling used, while snowball sampling initiated by request to
forward the link.
42 items measuring knowledge of carbon offsets, purchase behaviour of
carbon offsets, intention for future purchases and attitudes towards the
environment.
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9. Methodology continued
Multiple measures used to gauge consumer Cognition
attitudes. Measured on 7 point Likert scales to
measure valence and extremity
accompanying attitudes.
Attitudes
Revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP)
scale (Dunlap & Van Liere, 1978; Dunlap,
Conation Affect
Van Liere, Mertig & Jones, 2000) was used
due to it’s sound psychometric properties
and proven application to environmental issues.
The first application of this scale to an Australian context.
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10. Sample Profile
 83 Respondents
 Females overrepresented
 Mean age of respondents = 32
 47 Australian postcodes, across 6 states and territories

11. H1: There is minimal translation of attitudes towards
climate change into subsequent behaviour of buying
carbon offsets.
A scale variable of attitudes towards the environment and climate change
was created by adding six ordinal attitudinal variables together (minimum
possible score of 6, maximum score of 30).
A t-test was conducted to ascertain if differences between purchasers and
non-purchasers of carbon offsets existed with regards to attitudes.
Purchasers of carbon offsets have more positive attitudes towards the
environment (M = 23.91, SD = 3.6), than non-purchasers of carbon offsets
(M = 21.81, SD = 3.2), t (81) = 2.03, p = 0.046 (two tailed).
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12. H1 Continued
Significantly, 83.1% of respondents recorded a positive (M = 19–24) or
extremely positive (M = 25-30) attitude measure.
Attitude Responses
80
60
Percentage of 40
Responses
20
0
Negative Neutral Positive Extremely
Positive
However, only 14.5% of respondents has purchased carbon offsets.
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13. H2: Attitudes are an indicator of future purchase
intentions of carbon offsets
An ANOVA was conducted to explore the impact of attitude on future
purchase intentions. Subjects were divided into three groups according to
their purchase intentions (positive, neutral and negative intentions).
There was a statistically significant difference at the p < .001 level for the
three groups: F (2, 80) = 7.1.
Therefore, this hypothesis is supported, as it has been found that positive
attitudes are likely to correlate with positive purchase intentions of carbon
offsets. This concurs with previous research that has found that positive
attitudes correlate with positive intentions to purchase (Vermeir & Verbeke,
2007; Kalafatis et. al. 1999: Paladino, 2005; Rundle-Thiele, 2009).
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14. H3: Purchases of voluntary carbon offsets are low
due to lack of consumer knowledge.
A scale variable of knowledge of carbon offsets was created by adding
seven ordinal variables together (minimum possible score 7, maximum
score of 35). A t-test was conducted to ascertain if differences between
purchasers and non-purchasers of carbon offsets existed with regards to
knowledge levels.
It has been proven that purchasers of carbon offsets have a higher level of
knowledge of carbon offsets (M = 23.16, SD = 4.56) than non-purchasers (M
= 17.9, SD = 4.66), t (81) = 3.62, p = 0.001.
This can lead to the conclusion that people that have a lack of knowledge
are less likely to purchase carbon offsets.
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15. H4: Consumers do not purchase carbon offsets as
they perceive this to be too hard.
The mean of perceived control question “Carbon offsets are easy to
purchase” is 2.6 (SD = .89) (where 1 is strongly disagree, and 5 is strongly
agree), indicating that respondents disagreed with this statement.
A one sample t-test showed this to be significantly different (p = 0.00) from
the neutral point.
Respondents find it difficult to purchase carbon offsets, which could be a
perceived barrier to purchase.
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16. Table 1: Summary of Results
Hypothesis Test Result
H1 There is minimal translation of attitudes Two sample t- Supported
towards climate change into subsequent test
behaviour of buying carbon offsets.
H2 Attitudes are an indicator of future ANOVA Supported
purchase intentions.
H3 Purchases of voluntary carbon offsets are Two sample t- Supported
low due to a lack of consumer knowledge. test
H4 Consumers do not purchase carbon offsets One sample t- Supported
as they perceive this to be too hard. test

17. Attitudes Intentions Behaviour
Figure 1. Adapted from Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985).
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18. Contribution
For policy makers:
 Results provide a mechanism for influencing desired consumer actions.
 To shape public support and maximise abatement, could implement an
education campaign to increase knowledge among consumers
For Managers:
 Must raise awareness in the marketplace of what their product is
 Provide an easily accessible avenue for product purchase
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19. Limitations
Small sample size
Convenience and snowball sampling used.
Primarily, the sample is located in QLD, and NSW. Could extend this to all of
Australia.
Opportunity to conduct a longitudinal study to measure changes in attitudes
and purchase behaviour over time, especially in relation to new carbon tax
legislation.

20. Future Research Areas
Consumer attitudes towards carbon offsets, as this was outside the scope of
the study
Consumer attitudes towards a carbon tax
Investigate how incentives to purchase carbon offsets would impact
purchase decisions

21. Conclusions
Clear attitude – behaviour gap exists among Australian consumers, with
regards to purchase of voluntary carbon offsets.
Consumers strong positive attitudes towards the environment and climate
change do not translate into actual purchases, with only 14.5% of the
sample having previously purchased carbon offsets.
A lack of knowledge about voluntary carbon offsets, and the perception that
carbon offsets are hard to purchase, could be stifling carbon offset sales.
Positive attitudes have shown to indicate positive intentions, though these
do not always eventuate in pro-environmental behaviour. This calls into
question the validity of the TPB within an environmental context, and
provides future direction for research.

22. Thank you.
Questions?

23. Contact Us
If you would like to contact the researchers for questions
or collaboration opportunities, please direct
correspondence to Sarah Sloan at
s.sloan@griffith.edu.au
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