Climate Crisis Attitudes among Financial Professionals and Climate Experts

To address this climate crisis, it is necessary to transform the economy with the finance industry taking a central role by implementing sustainable investment policies. We use an incentivized experiment to measure the willingness to forgo payout to curb greenhouse gas emissions and a survey to elicit attitudes and beliefs toward the climate crisis among finance professionals---key protagonists on financial markets---and climate experts---key protagonists providing scientific findings. We provide suggestive evidence that finance professionals have a lower willingness to curb greenhouse gas emissions, are less concerned about climate change, and are less supportive of carbon taxes compared to climate experts. We also show differences in motivations and priorities with finance professionals emphasizing economic and reputational considerations and climate experts prioritizing ecological and social consequences of the crisis. Our findings highlight the importance of financial incentives and reputational concerns in motivating finance professionals to address the climate crisis.