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Climate tipping points are a topic of growing interest in climate research and a frequent communication tool in the media to warn of dangerous climate change. Despite indications that several climate tipping points may already be triggered within 1.5 to 2 °C warming above pre-industrial levels, there is limited research about the public understanding of climate tipping points, the effects this knowledge (or lack thereof) may have on perceptions of risk related to climate change, and the corresponding effects on behaviour and public policy support. The emerging scholarship on learning, communication, and risk perceptions related to climate tipping points provides confounding evidence regarding the psychological and behavioural effects of information about climate tipping points. It remains unknown whether and under what conditions this knowledge increases concern, risk perceptions, and action intentions. In this study, we assess the current state of knowledge about climate tipping points among Norwegians using an online survey. We study the comparative effects of communicating about climate tipping points and climate change more generally on risk perceptions among participants with a survey-embedded experiment. Norway is an interesting case with its fossil-based economy and high level of education. We find that familiarity with climate tipping points is low among Norwegians: only 13 % have good knowledge in the sense that they know an example or characteristic of climate tipping points. Information about tipping points has somewhat stronger, yet overall very small, effects on participants' risk perceptions compared to general information about climate change, moderately increasing concern. We discuss our findings and their implications and suggest directions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate tipping points are a topic of growing interest in climate research as well as a frequent communication tool in the media to warn of dangerous climate change. Despite indications that several climate tipping points may be triggered within the Paris Agreement temperature range of 1.5 °C to well below 2 °C warming above pre-industrial levels, there is limited understanding of the level of public understanding of climate tipping points, the effects this knowledge may have on perceptions of risk related to climate change, and the corresponding behavioural and policy support implications. The emerging scholarship on learning, communication, and risk perceptions related to climate tipping points provides confounding evidence regarding the psychological and behavioural effects of information about climate tipping points. It remains unknown whether and under what conditions this knowledge increases concern, urgency perceptions and action intentions, or whether it might overwhelm audiences, inducing fatalism and withdrawal from public engagement. In this study, we assess the current state of knowledge about climate tipping points among Norwegians using a nationally representative survey. We study the comparative effects of communicating about climate tipping points and climate change more generally on risk perceptions among participants with a survey-embedded experiment. We find low levels of knowledge regarding climate tipping points (<20 %). Information about tipping points had somewhat stronger effects on participants’ risk perceptions compared to general information about climate change, moderately increasing concern. We discuss our findings, and the implications, and suggest directions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last few years have witnessed an explosion of interest in the concept of social tipping points (STPs), understood as nonlinear processes of transformative change in social systems. A growing body of interdisciplinary scholarship has been focusing in particular on social tipping related to climate change. In contrast with tipping point studies in the natural sciences–for example climate tipping points and ecological regime shifts–STPs are often conceptualized as desirable, offering potential solutions to pressing problems. Drawing on a well‐established definition for tipping points, and a qualitative review of articles that explicitly treat social tipping points as potential solutions to climate change, this article identifies four deleterious patterns in the application of the STP concept in this recent wave of research on nonlinear social change: (i) premature labeling, (ii) not defining system boundaries and scales of analysis, (iii) not providing evidence for all characteristics of tipping processes, and (iv) not making use of existing social theories of change. Jointly, these patterns create a trend of overusing the concept. Recognizing and avoiding these patterns of "seeing the world through tipping point glasses" is important for the quality of scientific knowledge generated in this young field of inquiry and for future science‐policy interactions related to climate change. Future research should seek to identify empirical evidence for STPs while remaining open to the possibility that many social change processes are not instances of tipping, or that certain systems might not be prone to nonlinear change. This article is categorized under:Climate, History, Society, Culture > Ideas and KnowledgePerceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Behavior Change and ResponsesThe Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Sociology/Anthropology of Climate Knowledge [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]