As concern with climate change increases, people seek to behave and consume sustainably. This requires understanding which behaviours, firms and industries have the greatest impact on emissions. Here we ask if people are knowledgeable enough to make choices that align with growing sustainability intentions. Across five studies, we (1) demonstrate that accuracy of individuals’ emissions-related estimates is limited, (2) provide evidence that this misestimation is consistent with a cognitive process of attribute substitution and (3) identify conditions that do (and do not) moderate estimation accuracy. Our findings suggest that individuals’ efficacy as consumers, investors and citizens is currently hampered by their misjudgements of carbon impact. We advocate accessible and easily understandable information that highlights the causal impact of consumption decisions to facilitate climate action.

随着对气候变化的关注日益增加，人们寻求可持续的行为和消费。这需要了解哪些行为、企业和行业对排放影响最大。在这里，我们询问人们是否有足够的知识来做出符合不断增长的可持续发展意图的选择。在五项研究中，我们（1）证明了个人与排放相关的估计的准确性是有限的，（2）提供了证据证明这种错误估计与属性替代的认知过程是一致的，并且（3）确定了（和不）中等估计精度。我们的研究结果表明，个人作为消费者、投资者和公民的效能目前因对碳影响的错误判断而受到阻碍。我们提倡提供易于理解的信息，强调消费决策的因果影响，以促进气候行动。