Communicating the scientific consensus that human-caused climate change is real increases climate change beliefs, worry and support for public action in the United States. In this preregistered experiment, we tested two scientific consensus messages, a classic message on the reality of human-caused climate change and an updated message additionally emphasizing scientific agreement that climate change is a crisis. Across online convenience samples from 27 countries (n = 10,527), the classic message substantially reduces misperceptions (d = 0.47, 95% CI (0.41, 0.52)) and slightly increases climate change beliefs (from d = 0.06, 95% CI (0.01, 0.11) to d = 0.10, 95% CI (0.04, 0.15)) and worry (d = 0.05, 95% CI (−0.01, 0.10)) but not support for public action directly. The updated message is equally effective but provides no added value. Both messages are more effective for audiences with lower message familiarity and higher misperceptions, including those with lower trust in climate scientists and right-leaning ideologies. Overall, scientific consensus messaging is an effective, non-polarizing tool for changing misperceptions, beliefs and worry across different audiences.

在美国，传达人为造成的气候变化是真实存在的科学共识会增加人们对气候变化的信念、担忧和对公共行动的支持。在这个预先注册的实验中，我们测试了两个科学共识信息，一个是关于人为气候变化现实的经典信息，另一个是更新的信息，另外强调科学界同意气候变化是一场危机。在来自 27 个国家/地区的在线便利样本 （n = 10,527） 中，经典信息大大减少了误解 （d = 0.47， 95% CI （0.41， 0.52）），并略微增加了气候变化信念 （从 d = 0.06， 95% CI （0.01， 0.11） 到 d = 0.10， 95% CI （0.04， 0.15）） 和担忧 （d = 0.05， 95% CI （-0.01， 0.10）），但不支持直接采取公共行动。更新后的信息同样有效，但没有提供任何附加值。对于信息熟悉度较低和误解较高的受众，包括那些对气候科学家和右倾意识形态信任度较低的受众，这两种信息都更有效。总体而言，科学共识信息传递是一种有效的、非两极化的工具，可以改变不同受众的误解、信念和担忧。