Climate change mitigation as a large-scale collective action problemIvanuša, Ema (Avtor) Rutar, Tibor (Mentor) climate changeclimate change mitigationcollective actionindividual actioncollective action problemClimate change is the biggest challenge of our time. Its consequences include global warming, frequent and more destructive natural disasters, ocean acidification, rising sea levels, destruction of ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity. Besides the environmental degradation, climate change will have negative effects on the global economy and the health and living conditions of communities all over the world. Urgent action is needed to mitigate climate change, however, all the responses and mitigative efforts have been so far unsuccessful in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, the main anthropogenic driver of climate change. This master thesis aims to uncover and understand some of the reasons behind the individual inaction regarding this issue. It hypothesizes that this is due to the collective action problem structure of climate change mitigation. To test this hypothesis, it is shown climate change has all characteristics of a large-scale collective action problem: large number of involved actors, spatial and temporal distance, and high levels of complexity. These give rise to the stressors that impede factors that influence individual cooperative behaviour, such as anonymity, lack of accountability, risk and uncertainty, cognitive limitations, and emotional detachment. Further interdisciplinary research is needed to better understand (and hopefully solve) the conflict between individual short-term and collective long-term interests in the collective problem of climate change mitigation.[E. Ivanuša]20222021-12-02 11:36:42Magistrsko delo/naloga80987sl