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 Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5ea0

LETTER

Greening through schooling: understanding the link between

OPEN ACCESS
education and pro-environmental behavior in the Philippines
RECEIVED
21 March 2019
Roman Hoffmann1,4 and Raya Muttarak2,3
REVISED 1
19 November 2019
Vienna Institute of Demography/Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital
(IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU), Vienna, Austria
ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION 2
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA,
4 December 2019
VID/ÖAW, WU), Laxenburg, Austria
PUBLISHED 3
School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
14 January 2020 4
Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail: [email protected]
Original content from this
work may be used under Keywords: developing country, pro-environmental behavior, education, mechanisms, mediation analysis, Philippines
the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 Supplementary material for this article is available online
licence.
Any further distribution of
this work must maintain
attribution to the Abstract
author(s) and the title of
the work, journal citation In recent years, changing lifestyle, consumption and mobility patterns have contributed to a global rise
and DOI.
in greenhouse gases responsible for the warming of the planet. Despite its increasing relevance, there is a
lack of understanding of factors influencing the environmental behavior of people from emerging
economies. In this study, we focus on the role of formal education for pro-environmental behavior in
the Philippines and study three potentially underlying mechanisms explaining the education effects:
differential knowledge about climate change, risk perceptions, and awareness. Whilst there is some
evidence showing that education is associated with pro-environmental behavior, little is known about
the actual mechanisms through which it influences decision-making. Using propensity score methods,
we find that an additional year of schooling significantly increases the probability of pro-environmental
actions, e.g. planting trees, recycling, and proper waste management, by 3.3%. Further decomposing the
education effects, it is found that education influences behavior mainly by increasing awareness about
the anthropogenic causes of climate change, which may consequently affect the perception of self-
efficacy in reducing human impacts on the environment. Knowledge and perceptions about climate
risks also explain the education effect on pro-environmental behavior, but to a lesser extent.

1. Introduction lifestyle and consumption is a key strategy in reducing

the human impact on the climate and of topical
Taking action to combat climate change and its impacts importance for sustainable development policy. This
is urgent and vital in achieving the Sustainable Develop- applies to advanced industrialized countries and emer-
ment Goals. Although per capita emissions are still ging economies alike.
highest in high-income countries, several emerging low Despite a call for a stronger emphasis on demand-
and middle-income countries have seen a rise in carbon side solutions in mitigation strategies (Steg and Vlek 2009,
dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions in recent Creutzig et al 2018, Dubois et al 2019), little is known
years (IPCC 2014). While much of that rise was due to about the determinants of pro-environmental behaviors
increased (export-oriented) industrial activities, chan- of people from the developing world. Recent studies from
ging lifestyle, consumption, and mobility patterns also high-income countries have emphasized the role of uni-
played a significant role. How societies succeed in versal education as a mean to reduce demand-side emis-
mitigating and adapting to climate change depends sions (Anderson 2012, Lutz and Striessnig 2015). For
largely on the behavior of human beings acting both example, educated individuals have been found to have
individually and collectively (Gough 2013, Lutz and higher levels of environmental consciousness and to be
Muttarak 2017). Accordingly, promoting sustainable more likely to show pro-environmental concerns and

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd

Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

protective actions (Ortega-Egea et al 2014, Meyer 2015, Imbens 2004). We employ a mediation analysis to esti-
Steg 2016, Chankrajang and Muttarak 2017, Long et al mate whether and to what extent the three considered
2018). However, the exact channels through which edu- mechanisms, knowledge, risk perception and aware-
cation and more broadly learning affect environmental ness of climate change, explain the education effects
behavior require a deeper understanding, especially in on pro-environmental behavior (Breen et al 2013).
resource-scarce and low-income contexts. How and why Mediation analysis is a relevant methodological tool,
education affects environmental behavior is of particular which allows to identify and explore the mechanisms
relevance for policy-makers who can use this knowledge underlying relationships. While the need for a better
to design effective measures and demand-side interven- understanding of the mechanisms is emphasized in
tions aimed at promoting environmental consciousness the literature (e.g. Meyer 2015), these are rarely
and improving environmental protection. empirically explored. Based on a theoretical frame-
To this end, this study investigates the relationship work, our analysis generates insights, which help
between formal education and pro-environmental understanding not only whether, but also why educa-
behavior in the Philippines, a lower-middle income tion may be important for mitigation efforts and how
country, and analyzes the role of climate change it could best be used.
knowledge, risk perceptions, and awareness of the We find that education is positively related to pro-
causes of climate change as possible mechanisms in environmental behavior such as recycling, proper gar-
explaining education effects. To the best of our knowl- bage disposal, and planting trees. Controlling for gen-
edge, there is no other study, which simultaneously eralized propensity scores, an additional year of
considers the link between education and its mediat- schooling is estimated to increase the probability of
ing channels in promoting pro-environmental actions carrying out climate-friendly actions by 3.3%. Like-
in a low-income context. The Philippines represents wise, each of the three tested mediating factors, i.e.
an interesting case for our study. The educational sys- having greater knowledge about climate change,
tem was reformed several times in the past decades higher perception of climate risks, and being aware of
resulting in improved access, high enrolment its causes, has a significant positive impact on green
rates, and a low illiteracy rate of less than 4% behavior. The mediation analysis reveals that educa-
(UNESCO 2018). Moreover, environmental educa- tion effects are mainly driven by differences in the
tion has a long-standing tradition in formal education awareness of climate change being caused by human
curricula and overall awareness of environmental actions. Being aware of the link between anthro-
issues is high in the country. More than 73% of the pogenic activities and climatic change can influence
population can identify with a person who gives the perceived self-efficacy to interfere with and miti-
importance to looking after the environment com- gate climate change, and ultimately the willingness to
pared to 55% and 63% in the neighboring countries take actions against it. Altogether, the three mediating
Thailand and Malaysia, respectively (Inglehart et al factors explain between 30.5% and 32.2% of the total
2014). Nevertheless, the country is faced with severe education effects.
environmental issues, such as pollution, deforestation, The remainder of the paper is structured as fol-
and environmental degradation. The government has lows. Section 2 presents the previous literature and our
responded to these challenges by emphasizing the theoretical framework. Section 3 introduces the
need for action and awareness raising following bot- research setting of our study and the data. Section 4
tom-up community-centered and inclusive approa- presents our identification strategy and discusses the
ches as well as continued environmental education measurement of the key variables. The results are pre-
and learning in the formal schooling system (Republic sented in section 5. Section 6 concludes with a discus-
of the Philippines 2017). sion of the main findings and implications for future
This study uses original survey data collected research. The main text accompanied by supplemen-
among female household heads from low-income tary material available online at stacks.iop.org/ERL/
neighborhoods in Metro Manila and the neighboring 15/014009/mmedia presenting detailed background
province of Rizal who were members of a social devel- information on the study sample (S1), the estimation
opment organization. The surveys, which were con- strategy (S2), the measurement (S3), and further
ducted as part of a project on microfinance and health results (S4).
care, contained a detailed module on environmental
behavior and climate change knowledge and percep-
tions. Although specific in its nature, the sample of 2. Previous literature and conceptual
households represents an interesting case allowing us framework
to study the relationship between pro-environmental
actions and education in a low-income setting. Pro- Previous micro-level studies, mostly from high-
environmental behavior is estimated controlling for a income countries, have found a positive relationship
rich set of personal and contextual background char- between education and a wide range of pro-environ-
acteristics determining educational attainment in mental behaviors, including consumption patterns,
form of generalized propensity scores (Hirano and conservation, and lifestyle choices. For example, there

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

Figure 1. Conceptual framework explaining the direct and indirect channels through which education influences environmental
behavior. Note: the empirical design controls for the respondents’ pre-education background and indirect channels of influence
allowing us to capture the direct effects of education on pro-environmental behaviors.

is ample empirical evidence showing a correlation (EKC). For example, Inglesi-Lotz and Morales (2017)
between education and environmentally friendly food find that higher education levels are associated with
choices. This includes the purchasing of organic food higher energy consumption in developing countries
products (Blend and van Ravenswaay 1999, Lockie whilst in developed countries, energy consumption
et al 2004, Ngobo 2011), the willingness to pay higher declines as educational levels increase. On the other
prices for eco-labeled seafood (Brécard et al 2009, Xu hand, controlling for per capita income, increasing
et al 2012), the consumption of seasonal fruits and education levels have been shown to compensate for
vegetables (Tobler et al 2011), and a reduced con- the negative effects of economic growth on CO2 emis-
sumption of meat (de Boer et al 2014, De Backer and sion in Australia (Balaguer and Cantavella 2018).
Hudders 2015, Graça et al 2015, Weibel et al 2019). While most of the evidence from low and middle-
At the same time, better educated individuals have income countries is based on macro level data, there
been shown to be more likely to adopt energy con- are only few studies using micro level survey data to
servation behaviors that yield a lower carbon foot- test for the relationship between education and envir-
print, such as purchasing eco-labeled, higher onmental behavior. Moreover, most of the existing
efficiency electrical and heating appliances empirical evidence is based on correlations. Few
(Flamm 2009, Mills and Schleich 2010, Michelsen and recent studies attempt to identify the causal effect of
Madlener 2012, Ma et al 2013, Wijaya and education on green behaviors using changes in com-
Tezuka 2013), adopting renewable energy sources pulsory schooling laws over time (Meyer 2015, Chank-
(Sardianou and Genoudi 2013), and deliberatively sav- rajang and Muttarak 2017). While these studies
ing energy (Poortinga et al 2004, Sardianou 2007, provide evidence for a causal relationship between
Ouyang and Hokao 2009, Mills and Schleich 2012, education and pro-environmental behavior, little is
Lacroix and Gifford 2018, Niamir 2019). A positive known about the actual mechanisms explaining the
relationship has also been reported for recycling and observed effects. Theoretically, education can affect
waste disposal activities (Hage et al 2009, Sidique et al environmental decision-making either directly or
2010) and the adoption of fuel-efficient or alternative indirectly (see figure 1). In this study, we primarily
fuel vehicles (Mannberg et al 2014, Potoglou and focus on direct channels of influence while controlling
Kanaroglou 2007). for potential indirect channels and the pre-education
In low and middle-income countries, on the other background.
hand, increasing education levels often go hand in Formal schooling can directly influence pro-envir-
hand with enhanced economic development and the onmental behavior by improving skills, knowledge
emergence of a wealthier middle class who can afford and awareness that are relevant for climate change
higher consumption levels. In fact, studies that shift mitigation actions. Evidence from FMRI (functional
the focus beyond high-income countries do not neces- magnetic resonance imaging) studies have shown a
sarily find the positive relationship between education positive association between schooling and the devel-
and green environmental behavior (Ameli and opment of neural networks underlying cognitive con-
Brandt 2015, Inglesi-Lotz and Morales 2017). The trol and problem solving (Rosenberg-Lee et al 2011,
educational expansion in many countries has resulted Brod et al 2017). Being in school allows children to
in increased energy and resource consumption, which engage in cognitive activities including learning to
on the macro level led to a nonlinear relationship read, write, understand number, count and solve
between development and sustainable lifestyle, com- numerical problems. Schooling activities in higher
monly referred to as Environmental Kuznets Curve grades involve tasks that require acquisition and

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

deployment of meta-cognitive skills including critical 3. Research setting and data

thinking, comprehension, logical deduction and
abstract reasoning. These cognitive exercises equip This study uses primary survey data from the Philip-
educated individuals with the ability to solve novel pines collected by the authors in April 2015. The
problems thanks to their skills to identify patterns and sample of respondents was randomly drawn among
make extrapolations. Higher-order cognition indeed female members of a social development microfinance
has been shown to be relevant for risk assessment and institution (MFI) as part of a project on MFI delivered
decision-making, which are important elements in health care services. The interviewed women were the
judgement and making choices about climate actions household heads of predominantly low-income
(Oechssler et al 2009, Del Missier et al 2012, Rosi et al households in Metro Manila (National Capital Region,
2019). Cognitive skills acquired through schooling can NCR) and the surrounding rural province of Rizal.
While not being representative for the entire popula-
thus enable individuals to acquire a better under-
tion, the sample reflects an interesting case and a well-
standing of highly complex environmental issues such
suited testing ground to analyze our hypotheses. In
as climate change and its scientific underpinnings.
total, 1064 women from three neighborhoods were
Likewise, it is possible that schooling improves the
interviewed using a standardized questionnaire con-
learners’ knowledge about environmental issues
sisting of 100 questions on a wide-range of topics, such
through environmental education and consequently
as the respondent’s educational background, her
increase their consciousness for the consequences of
financial situation, and other socio-demographic and
their actions (Stevenson 2007, Anderson 2012, Wals household characteristics (see supplement S5).
and Benavot 2017). Indeed, there is evidence that Figure 2 shows a map of the study areas with loca-
more educated individuals have better knowledge tions of the respondents’ homes (blue dots). As can be
about climate change as compared to their less edu- inferred from the map, the areas encompass urban as
cated peers (McCright 2010, Kabir et al 2016). Accord- well as semi-urban and rural neighborhoods at the
ingly, with better knowledge and awareness, it has outskirts of the city. The main research instrument
been found that people with higher education express contains a section on the participants’ knowledge
higher levels of concern about climate change (Poor- about and perception of climate change and the
tinga et al 2019) and are consequently more likely to environment as well as actions she takes to protect it.
engage in pro-environmental behavior (Ortega-Egea For the propensity score estimation, we additionally
et al 2014, Muttarak and Chankrajang 2016). use aggregate census data on the provincial level for
Apart from directly improving knowledge, per- the years 1948, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1990,
ceptions, and awareness, education can also influence which was provided to us by the Philippine Statistical
pro-environmental behavior through many other Authority.
indirect channels. First, individuals with higher educa- The formal education system of the Philippines is
tion levels typically have a higher socio-economic sta- among the most developed in the region with primary
tus and income levels. This gives them access to more school net enrolment rates fluctuating around a high
financial resources, consequently allowing them to average of 90% since the 1980s, when early school
undertake more costly environmental actions, such as reforms led to improved access to basic education for
making their houses energy efficient, using eco- large parts of the population. Environmental educa-
friendly building materials, or installing renewable tion was integrated in the school curriculum at all
energy sources at home. Second, there is abundant evi- levels already in the 1970s, when many regions of the
Philippines were confronted with the consequences of
dence showing that education is positively associated
environmental degradation and pollution (Antonio
with better access to information, such as weather
et al 2012). At the same time, governmental and non-
forecasts and warnings. Taking pro-environmental
governmental organizations started public informa-
actions requires information on the effectiveness of
tion campaigns to stimulate environmental con-
different measures and better access to such informa-
sciousness and promote pro-environmental behavior.
tion enables educated individuals to change their
In the early 1990s, the National Strategy on Environ-
behavior accordingly (Cotten and Gupta 2004, Wen mental Education and the National Environmental
et al 2011, Neuenschwander et al 2012). On top of that, Education Action Plan were formulated, which gave
some studies have argued that more educated indivi- rise to several country-wide initiatives promoting
duals have on average higher social capital allowing environmental protection in school. In its most recent
them to benefit from shared information and risk per- National Environmental Education Action plan, the
ceptions in their social networks (Lake and Huckfeldt government reaffirms its intention to strengthen edu-
1998, Huang et al 2009, Witvorapong et al 2015). Bet- cation for sustainable development in a people-cen-
ter economic and social resources as well as better tered and comprehensive way (Republic of the
access to information may thus indirectly facilitate the Philippines 2017).
undertaking of pro-environmental behavior of indivi- While we focus on the influence of formal educa-
duals with a higher level of education. tion in this study, it is worth noting that other forms of

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

Figure 2. Map of study areas with locations of respondents’ homes. The study areas encompassed both more urban and rural areas
located in Rizal province towards the East of the National Capital Region.

education, which take place outside the traditional and contextual pre-education characteristics. The
educational institutions, also play an important role in generalized propensity score (GPS) derived from this
influencing pro-environmental orientations and exercise is used in the subsequent analysis as an
behaviors (Eshach 2007). Non-formal education and aggregate control variable allowing us to efficiently
learning programs, such as community-based initia- control for potentially confounding influences of
tives, can successfully raise awareness and disseminate respondent’s pre-education characteristics (Hirano
knowledge about the importance of environmental and Imbens 2004, Egger and von Ehrlich 2013). As a
protection. Likewise, informal education, which robustness check we repeated our main analysis
includes learning from daily experience and the edu- including the entire set of pre-treatment controls
cative influences and resources in the immediate instead of the GPS (see supplement table S4). None of
environment, including social interactions, can also our results is sensitive to the changes in the estimation
play a key role (Richardson and Wolfe 2001, procedures. In the estimation of the GPS, we closely
Digby 2013). In this regard, the media and public com- followed the procedures outlined in Hirano and
munication channels are an important source of influ- Imbens (2004) and Kluve et al (2012). Further
ence (Chan 1998, Holbert et al 2003). Although both information on the estimation of the GPS as well as the
non-formal and informal learning are highly relevant tests of the central assumptions can be found in the
and underexplored topics, it was beyond the scope of supplementary material (S2) and in Hoffmann and
this study to empirically explore their influences in the Lutz (2019).
considered setting. In our propensity score estimation, we rely on a
broad set of personal pre-education characteristics:
parental education, parental literacy, cognitive abil-
4. Empirical strategy and measurement ities, age, and early work experience as a proxy for
wealth in childhood. In addition to these personal
4.1. Pre-education background and propensity background variables, we include a set of relevant
score estimation birth province characteristics, which may have influ-
To answer our main research questions on the enced respondents’ likelihood to obtain higher educa-
relationship between education and environmental tion levels. In particular, we are interested in
behavior as well as to explore the mechanisms under- contextual variables, which capture the economic
lying the effect of education (if any), we follow a development level and educational infrastructure in
multiple steps estimation strategy. In a first step, we the province, such as the distance of the birth province
estimate the respondents’ propensity to obtain a to the capital, the literacy rate, population density,
specific level of education based on different personal elementary school completion rate, and the

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

Figure 3. Percentages distribution of pro-environmental behaviors. Categorization based on open answers by respondents listing all
activities they currently undertake to protect the environment and to reduce human impacts on climate change.

electrification rate in the province. The information environmental mobility seems to not be considered as
on the respondent’s birth province and birth year was a pro-environmental action by the respondents.
merged with these environmental background char- The survey-based subjective measurement of
acteristics of the respective province at the time of the respondent’s environmental behavior may be prone to
respondent’s birth. All contextual data were derived measurement errors and social desirability biases
from the Philippine Census of Population and Hous- (Gatersleben et al 2002). To account for these issues,
ing since 1948. we also collected observational data on respondent’s
littering and garbage disposal behavior, which affects
the immediate environment. When visiting respon-
4.2. Measurement of pro-environmental behavior dents’ homes, interviewers were asked to rate the space
To measure pro-environmental behavior respondents in and around the houses of the respondents in terms
were openly asked to list all activities they currently of littering and garbage disposal on a four-point scale
undertake to protect the environment and to reduce (‘lots of uncollected garbage/very dirty’, ‘some uncol-
impacts on climate change. Interviewers were required lected garbage/dirty’, ‘very little garbage/clean’, ‘no
to probe the respondents several times to obtain garbage visible/very clean’). Based on this informa-
complete answers. The answers were later categorized tion, we generated a dummy variable taking the value
into nine categories, which are displayed in figure 3 zero if there was a lot of or some garbage in the
below. The categorization of the open-ended ques- immediate area around or inside the house. Although
tions was done by two coders in order to ensure this measure serves only as a proxy for environmental
reliability. To test for the robustness of our findings, actions, it allows us to test the robustness of our
we base our analyzes on multiple outcomes: first, we findings.
study whether the respondent undertakes any pro-
environmental actions as a dummy variable; and 4.3. Measurement of mediating factors and
second, we analyze the total sum of all actions under- mechanisms
taken (min 0 to max 4), which can serve as an indicator In the mediation analysis, we consider three factors,
for the intensity of pro-environmental behavior. namely, knowledge about climate change, the percep-
The majority of the respondents (59%) undertake tion of climate change risks, and awareness of the
at least one form of green behavior. On the other hand, causes of climate change, which are expected to
we observe only few respondents who undertake more explain the relationship between education and pro-
than two actions (4.2%). Most of the answers given environmental behavior. These factors were measured
were related to the proper treatment of garbage (e.g. only for those respondents who have at least heard of
not burning, right disposal, segregation, etc). Only few the term ‘climate change’ before (N=860), which
respondents said they changed their consumption served as filter variable in our survey. Having heard of
behavior or tried to save energy or water. Interestingly, climate change naturally is a pre-condition for asses-
very few respondents said that they tried to use envir- sing its causes and associated risks. Therefore, in the
onmentally friendly ways of transportation. Since the mediation analysis in table 2, we control for whether
use of public transportation is common for the inter- the respondents have such a basic awareness of climate
viewed sample, changing to or selecting pro- change, which, in itself, is strongly associated with a

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

person’s education level (see supplement S4.3). The information about the strength of the mediation by
effects of the main mediators are estimated conditional considering changes in the education effects.
on whether respondents were aware of the term In the analysis we additionally control for a wide
climate change. In the supplementary materials, we set of other potential mediating channels and factors
replicate our mediation analysis only for those respon- that may be directly or indirectly influenced by educa-
dents who have heard of climate change before. The tion and potentially confound our mediation analysis.
results are consistent with the findings for the entire We include measures for economic resources, risk
sample (see supplement tables S8 and S9). preferences, social capital, marital status, number of
The first mediating factor—general knowledge children in the household, religiosity, household size,
about climate change—was assessed with a question and subjective health status. Furthermore, we control
on whether the respondents were able to explain the for the average years of schooling among other
term to the interviewer (minimum acceptable answer respondents from the same neighbourhood and those
was steady or sudden changes in weather due to chan- in the direct peer group as assessed with a social net-
ging climatic conditions). General knowledge was work questionnaire to take potential contextual peer
coded as a dummy variable, which takes the value one effects into account (Durlauf and Ioannides 2010,
if the respondents were able to explain it. In total, Jackson 2011).
70.72% of the reduced sample of 860 respondents Mediation analysis is a valuable tool to identify and
were able to give a correct answer. The second mediat- explore underlying mechanisms explaining the rela-
ing factor is the respondents’ risk perception, which was tionship between educational attainment and pro-
assessed with a question on how serious they perceived environmental behavior. To derive an estimate of the
explanatory power of each of the different mediating
climate change to be on a 10-point scale. The 10 point-
factor, we compare the education coefficients from the
scale was dichotomized at the value 7 resulting in a
baseline model with those in the models controlling
total of 62.2% of the respondents who perceived a high
for the single mediators. If the mediators explain at
risk of a changing climate. Finally, the third mediating
least part of the education effect, we expect the educa-
factor measures the awareness of the causes of climate
tion coefficients to be reduced in the extended models.
change. The respondents were asked for their beliefs
The comparison of effects across nonlinear models is
about the causes of climate change. The responses
not straightforward, as the scale of the underlying
were categorized in a dichotomous variable, which
models may change if an additional factor is included.
takes the value one if the respondents said that climate
To be able to make cross-model comparisons, we
change was (at least in part) caused by human activity
apply the KHB method (Kohler et al 2011, Breen et al
as opposed to being an outcome of natural or super- 2013, Hoffmann and Muttarak 2017), which harmo-
natural processes. Overall, 69% believed climate nizes the scale of the baseline and extended Logit mod-
change to be caused by human activities, which can els. The KHB procedure also provides a test if the
also be interpreted as a measure of the perceived self- difference in the coefficients is significantly different
efficacy to fight climate change by changing own from zero, which would support the mediation
behavior. argument.

4.4. Estimating and explaining education effects 5. Results

In our result section, we focus on the estimation of the
effects of education measured by years of schooling on 5.1. Baseline specification: the role of education for
pro-environmental behaviors using the GPS to condi- environmental behavior
tion our sample on the pre-education characteristics Table 1 shows the results of our baseline specification
of the respondents. Logit models are employed to in which we regress the behavioral outcomes on years
estimate the effect of education on the probability of of education. While the model specifications (a) and
taking any environmental actions and Poisson models (c) control only for neighborhood dummies and the
to estimate the effect of education on the total number GPS, which captures the relevant variation in pre-
of actions. The latter model takes the specific count education characteristics, models (b) and (d) include a
distribution of the outcome variable into account. richer set of control variables. To facilitate the
Education effects are estimated first in a baseline interpretation of the effects and to make them
specification without and then under control for the comparable across models, all coefficients are reported
main mediating mechanisms.5 Including the addi- as marginal effects.
tional variables in the regression allows us to infer Across all models, we find evidence for substantial
education effects on the probability to undertake
5
The effects of education on the considered mediating factors is environmental actions. According to the baseline
analyzed in a separate analysis (see supplement table S6). Through Logit specification, an additional year of schooling sig-
this, we can infer information about the extent to which the
considered mediators are actually related to and possibly influenced nificantly raises the probability to show some form of
by education levels. environmental behavior by 3.3% (p<0.01). Having

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

Table 1. Logit and poisson models: effect of education on environmental behavior.

Outcome: environmental behavior

Poisson: number of
Logit: any actions actions

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Years of education 0.033*** 0.030*** 0.073*** 0.065***

[0.005] [0.006] [0.010] [0.012]
GPS −0.105 −0.17 −0.029 −0.196
[0.414] [0.396] [0.623] [0.617]
Area 2: medium density 0.009 −0.005 0.026 0.01
[0.049] [0.053] [0.089] [0.094]
Area 3: high density −0.074* −0.077** −0.167** −0.168**
[0.039] [0.038] [0.078] [0.076]
Wealth 0.031* 0.078**
[0.019] [0.038]
Subjective health 0.008 0.006
[0.008] [0.017]
Social support 0.026 0.058
[0.046] [0.076]
Married 0.044 0.033
[0.033] [0.051]
Children 0.043*** 0.064**
[0.014] [0.028]
Household size −0.033*** −0.054**
[0.011] [0.023]
Religiousness 0.015 0.026
[0.025] [0.040]
Risk preferences −0.005 −0.011
[0.006] [0.011]
Average education microfinance group −0.006 0.004
[0.023] [0.039]
Average education direct peers −0.001 −0.015
[0.013] [0.024]
Observations 1034 1034 1034 1034
Pseudo R2 0.032 0.044 0.023 0.028
AIC 1366.7 1370.1 2478.4 2486.4

Notes: Coefficients are displayed as marginal effects calculated at the mean of all covariates, standard
errors in brackets. Standard errors are clustered at the microfinance group level (m=70). * p„0.1, **
p„0.05, *** p„0.01.

10 years of education (equivalent to the completion of behavior; a result which mirrors findings in the pre-
secondary education compared to a person with no vious literature (Torras and Boyce 1998, Diekmann
education in the Philippines) hence substantially and Franzen 1999, Golley and Meng 2012). Further-
increases the respondents’ likelihood of undertaking more, having a greater number of children is positively
pro-environmental actions by 33%. Comparable related with the outcomes of interest. This may reflect
results are found for the count outcome, indicating an stronger preference of parents to protect the environ-
important role of education net of potentially con- ment for future generations explaining their more for-
founding pre-education factors. While we do not find ward-looking behavior. At the same time, controlling
that the GPS as an aggregate factor itself is significant for the number of children, we observe a decrease in
in the estimated models, some of the variables used for the tendency to carry out environmental actions with
the GPS estimation exert a statistically significant increasing household size.
effect on the considered outcomes (see supplement
table S4, which reports the results of a model using the
full-set of pre-treatment characteristics as controls 5.2. Extended models including mediating factors
instead of the GPS). In the second step of our analysis, we add the
Apart of the education effects, we find that several mediating variables to our baseline models in a
of the additional controls reflecting other potential stepwise fashion to estimate their effect on environ-
mediators have a significant effect on the likelihood mental behavior. Table 2 shows the results of our Logit
and intensity of environmental actions. Higher wealth and Poisson models, which control for area fixed
levels are positively associated with environmental effects and the additional control variables, including

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

Table 2. Logit and poisson models: effect of mediators on environmental behavior.

Outcome: environmental behavior

Logit: any actions

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Years of education 0.021*** 0.020*** 0.019*** 0.016*** 0.014**

[0.006] [0.006] [0.006] [0.006] [0.006]
GPS −0.259 −0.214 −0.212 −0.176 −0.125
[0.381] [0.376] [0.391] [0.373] [0.376]
Wealth 0.024 0.021 0.023 0.014 0.011
[0.018] [0.018] [0.018] [0.016] [0.017]
Heard of climate change 0.224*** 0.169*** 0.169*** 0.036 −0.022
[0.042] [0.047] [0.050] [0.045] [0.054]
Climate change knowledge 0.082** 0.064
[0.039] [0.040]
Risk perception 0.096*** 0.039
[0.035] [0.033]
Awareness of causes 0.272*** 0.260***
[0.030] [0.031]
% change edu. coefficient −6.3% −10.6% −22.0% −30.5%
Observations 1034 1034 1034 1034 1034
Pseudo R2 0.066 0.069 0.072 0.116 0.119
AIC 1341.3 1337.9 1334.9 1273 1272

Poisson: count of actions

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)
*** *** *** ***
Years of education 0.049 0.045 0.044 0.038 0.033***
[0.011] [0.011] [0.011] [0.011] [0.011]
GPS −0.481 −0.345 −0.394 −0.447 −0.293
[0.607] [0.593] [0.621] [0.577] [0.574]
Wealth 0.065* 0.056 0.062* 0.045 0.037
[0.038] [0.037] [0.037] [0.034] [0.034]
Heard of climate change 0.604*** 0.424*** 0.495*** 0.123 −0.053
[0.111] [0.121] [0.119] [0.129] [0.140]
Climate change knowledge 0.255*** 0.218***
[0.067] [0.063]
Risk perception 0.187*** 0.075
[0.060] [0.051]
Awareness of causes 0.656*** 0.628***
[0.072] [0.073]
% change edu. coefficient −8.5% −8.9% −22.3% −32.2%
Observations 1034 1034 1034 1034 1034
Pseudo R2 0.042 0.046 0.045 0.07 0.074
AIC 2453 2442.6 2447.1 2382.5 2376.1

Notes: Coefficients are displayed as marginal effects calculated at the mean of all covariates, standard
errors in brackets. Standard errors are clustered at the microfinance group level (m=70). Additional
controls included in the model, but not displayed: neighborhood dummies, household size, number
of children, marital status, subjective health, social support, subjective religiosity, risk preferences,
education levels in microfinance and direct peer group. * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01.

wealth. Note that the models additionally control for term ‘climate change’. Especially in the Logit models,
whether the respondents have heard of the term we observe a smaller education effect on the likelihood
‘climate change’, which was the filter requirement for of undertaking environmental actions if our analysis
the successive questions on knowledge, awareness and controls for this additional factor. This suggests that
risk perception of climate change, our key mediating basic awareness of the existence of climate change is
variables. also an important mechanism on its own as it explains
To be able to compare the education effects across part of the education effects reported in table 1. In fur-
the models, we re-calculated the baseline education ther analyzes in the supplementary material (S4.4), we
coefficient (tables 1(b) and (d)) additionally control- further explore this factor and as a sensitivity test re-
ling for whether the respondents have heard of the run our models excluding the respondents who said

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

Figure 4. Estimated probabilities to undertake environmental actions for different levels of schooling. Notes: the graphs are based on
the Logit models presented in table 2. On average, the respondents with higher climate knowledge, a higher risk perception and an
awareness of the causes of climate change are more likely to report undertaking pro-environmental actions.

they have never heard about climate change (n=174) behavior (though reduced in magnitude) remains sig-
from our analytical sample. All results reported here nificant suggesting that there are other unobserved
remain fully robust to the sample variation. channels that may play a role.
Also after adding further controls, education effects In additional analyzes, we study the influence of edu-
are significant and meaningful. According to the Logit cation on the three mediating factors, climate change
estimates (a), the probability to undertake environ- knowledge, risk perception, and awareness (see supple-
mental actions increases by a substantial 2.1% with each ment table S6). We find a strong positive association
additional year of schooling. Once the mediating vari- between education and the mediators, which is a neces-
ables are introduced to the models (b)–(d), the education sary condition for the mediation argument to hold. An
coefficients are reduced as compared to the baseline spe- increase in education by one year raises the probability to
cification in model (a) suggesting that all mediators can know about climate change by 2.0%. Likewise, the prob-
at least in part explain the observed education effects. ability to perceive climate change as a risk and of being
We find that all three mediating factors exert a sig- aware of the human causes of changing environmental
nificant positive effect on environmental behavior. conditions increase by 2.4% with every additional year of
Having knowledge about climate change, perceiving schooling. An even stronger education effect is found for
climate change as a threat for the livelihood, and being the variable based on which we filter out respondents
aware of the anthropogenic causes of climate change who have not heard of the term ‘climate change’. The
raise the probability to partake pro-environmental probability of having heard of this term increases by a
actions by 8.2%, 9.6% and a substantial 27.2%, respec- substantial 3.9% with every school year revealing a poten-
tively. In the full Logit and Poisson models including tially large role of education in making people aware of
all mediators (e), the risk perception effects are no the very basic existence of global environmental changes.
longer significant in both the Logit and Poisson speci-
fication, suggesting that this mediating factor may be
of less relevance in influencing environmental action. 5.3. Explaining education effects
Likewise, the knowledge effect is slightly reduced and Complementing the previous findings, we derive an
loses its significance in the final Logit specification. estimate for the strength of mediation and test to what
Figure 4 shows the estimated probabilities to extent the considered mediators explain the reported
undertake pro-environmental actions by years of education effects. For this analysis, we compare the
schooling stratified by the levels of the dichotomous size of the education coefficients between the baseline
mediating variables (high versus low). We observe (a) and extended models (b)–(e), which additionally
higher levels of pro-environmental behavior if the control for the mediators. The KHB method employed
respondents have greater knowledge, perceive a higher here makes the coefficients comparable by adjusting
threat of changing climatic conditions, and are aware the underlying scales in the nonlinear estimation. The
of the anthropogenic causes of climate change. The row ‘% change edu. coefficient’ in table 2 shows the
difference is particularly pronounced for the latter, as estimated percentage change in the education effects
indicated by its very large coefficients in table 2. Those due to the inclusion of the mediating factor. Note that
who are aware that human activities contribute to glo- the size of this measure, which can be interpreted as an
bal warming may feel greater self-efficacy that they can indicator for the strength of mediation, is influenced
actually make a difference by engaging in climate- by both the effect of education on the mediator, and its
friendly actions. In the models controlling for all med- influence on the outcome, i.e. pro-environmental
iators the effect of education on pro-environmental behavior.

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

Table 3. Logit models: effects of education and mediators on alternative outcome measure.

Outcome: garbage disposal and no littering

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Years of education 0.009** 0.010** 0.010** 0.008* 0.009**

[0.004] [0.004] [0.004] [0.004] [0.004]
GPS −0.15 −0.155 −0.156 −0.132 −0.148
[0.257] [0.256] [0.259] [0.254] [0.254]
Wealth 0.058*** 0.058*** 0.058*** 0.056*** 0.057***
[0.016] [0.017] [0.016] [0.016] [0.017]
Heard of climate change 0.059* 0.068* 0.067* 0.025 0.046
[0.032] [0.040] [0.035] [0.036] [0.043]
Climate change knowledge −0.012 −0.014
[0.026] [0.026]
Risk perception −0.014 −0.026
[0.025] [0.025]
Awareness of causes 0.056* 0.063**
[0.030] [0.031]

% change edu. coefficient 2.0 3.4 −10.9 −3.1

Observations 981 981 981 981 981

Pseudo R2 0.056 0.057 0.057 0.062 0.063
AIC 833.4 835.2 835.2 831.1 834

Notes: Coefficients are displayed as marginal effects calculated at the mean of all covariates, standard
errors in brackets. Standard errors are clustered at the microfinance group level (m=70). All models
control for the full set of control variables: neighborhood dummies, household size, number of
children, marital status, subjective health, social support, subjective religiosity, risk preferences,
education levels in microfinance and direct peer group. *p„0.1, **p„0.05, ***p„0.01.

While education effects remain significant even if explaining part of the effect of education on pro-
the additional mediators are included, the magnitude environmental behavior (see supplement table S7).
of the estimates decreases considerably. The difference
between the coefficients of the baseline and extended 5.4. Robustness check using observational data
model is the largest when climate change awareness is The previous models used behavioral information
introduced as a mediator. The former explains about based on the subjective survey responses. In a final
22% of the education effects, revealing its important step, we test for the robustness of our results using
role as potential mechanism explaining the relation- observational data about the environmental behavior
ship between education and pro-environmental beha- of the respondents. For this, we analyze the inter-
vior. While we do find that knowledge and perceptions viewer’s assessments of garbage disposal and littering
of the risks associated with climate change also play a in the space in and around the houses of our
role, the proportion of the education effects explained respondents. Table 3 shows the results of Logit models,
is merely 6.3% and 10.6%, respectively. Hence, they which regress the binary-coded observational variable
on years of education and the considered mediators.
seem to be less relevant factors in explaining the link
All models control for the full set of alternative
between education and environmental actions. Over-
mediators that may confound the relationships.
all, the three main mediators together explain 30.5%
While the effect using the alternative outcome are
and 32.2% in the Logit and Poisson specifications,
smaller than for the subjective measure, the overall
respectively, controlling for the full set of additional
pattern is similar. The probability for showing a pro-
variables and neighborhood fixed effects. environmental behavior increases by 0.9% with each
As mentioned above, education effects are also additional year of education. Adding the mediators to
substantially reduced once the filter variable, measur- the models, we do not see substantial changes when
ing whether respondents have heard of ‘climate knowledge about climate change and respondent’s
change’, is included in the baseline model. As the mea- risk perception are included. However, in line with the
surement of the main three mediators considered in previous models, education effects are significantly
this study depends on the respondents having at least reduced by 10.9% when differences in the awareness
heard of climate change before, we cannot directly of the anthropogenic causes of climatic changes are
compare the importance of this filter variable vis-a-vis controlled for suggesting an important role of this
the other mediators. However, our results suggest that mechanism in explaining education effects on the
already the very basic awareness of the existence of cli- considered outcome. Apart from the role of education,
mate change is an important mechanism on its own we also find a substantial effect of household wealth in

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Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

influencing the garbage disposal and littering normative beliefs (Ajzen 1991). The decision to take an
outcome. action includes both the evaluation of a certain out-
come and the estimation of the likelihood to reach this
outcome through one’s actions, i.e. the perceived
6. Discussion and conclusion behavioral control (Ajzen 2002). Being aware that
one’s behavior can attain certain outcomes and the
How does education affect environmental behavior resulting perceived self-efficacy are hence important
and what are the underlying mechanisms? In this prerequisites for individuals to take up a desired beha-
paper, we employ a generalized propensity score vior. This does also apply to pro-environmental beha-
approach and a mediation analysis to answer these vior. Knowing about the anthropogenic causes of
questions. The analysis is performed using original climate change concurrently mean that individuals
survey data that was collected among women in low- also know that they can do something about it. Indeed,
income households in the greater area of Metro Manila the previous environmental psychology literature
and the neighboring province of Rizal. While the finds that poor understanding of the connection
previous literature has a strong focus on advanced between human actions and climate change influences
industrialized countries, our study represents one of the perception of human ability to control and take
the few that explore the determinants of environmen- action against it (Lorenzoni and Pidgeon 2006).
tal behavior in a developing country context. Accordingly, a lack of awareness about the con-
We find education positively influences environ- sequences of human activities on the global climate
mental behaviors. An additional year of schooling rai- system discourages individuals to take any climate-
ses the propensity to undertake environmentally friendly actions. Education thus plays a vital role in
friendly actions by a significant 3.3% (table 1, Logit promoting knowledge about climate change and in
model a) and the number of actions undertaken by raising awareness about the impacts of human
0.073 (table 1, Poisson model c). The education effects activities.
estimated in our baseline models closely resemble the Our study faces some limitations. First, due to the
effects reported in other studies both from high as well cross-sectional and non-experimental nature of our
as low and middle-income countries. Using the Euro- data, we are unable to make causal claims in our analy-
barometer data, Meyer (2015) finds a statistically sig- sis. Although we control for pre-education character-
nificant effect of 0.071 of education on the number of istics using propensity scores and a variety of
environmental actions undertaken, which is almost additional demographic controls, the results could be
identical to our estimate (see Meyer 2015, p. 113, driven by simultaneity issues or omitted variables,
table 4, col 1). Other studies from high-income coun- such as time preferences. To check the validity of our
tries report similar results, such as Mills and Schleich results, we performed various consistency checks,
(2012) Di Maria et al (2010), or Sardianou and Genoudi which did not indicate any problems with the used
(2013). As one of a few studies from a developing identification strategy.
country, Chankrajang and Muttarak (2017) report A second limitation is that our findings are mainly
significant point estimates between 0.035 and 0.059 for based on survey data that are prone to measurement
education effects on different pro-environmental and reporting errors. In particular, we rely on data
actions in Thailand (see Chankrajang and Muttarak about self-reported environmental behavior, which is
2017, page 441, table 5, col 1 to 4). The comparison of potentially subject to social desirability biases. Some
the findings suggests considerable similarities in the respondents may have over-reported their engage-
education effects across settings, which seem to be inde- ment in pro-environmental actions in order to receive
pendent of the respective country wealth level. social approval. For example, when comparing house-
A mediation analysis based on the KHB method hold energy use with self-reported pro-environmental
(Breen et al 2013) is employed to identify the under- behavior among Dutch households, Gatersleben et al
lying mechanisms of the effect of education on pro- (2002) revealed that people who reported to act in a
environmental behavior. Our results show that being more environmentally-friendly way do not necessarily
aware of climate change and its causes explains as use less energy. Other studies, for example by Milfont
much as one-fourth of the education effects suggesting (2009), on the other hand, do not find strong evidence
that education plays an important role in raising of social desirability effects for self-reported pro-
awareness levels, which positively affects environ- environmental behavior. It has also been argued that
mental decision-making. This reveals an important social desirability is likely to represent a minor pro-
role of understanding the causes and consequences of blem when the self-reported measures refer to past/
climate change in triggering pro-environmental present behavior like the ones used in this study rather
actions. than intended/future behavior (Ortega-Egea et al
This result is in line with the theory of planned 2014). To account for potential measurement errors in
behavior which holds that behavioral intentions are a our design, we used different operationalization of our
function of one’s attitude towards performing a part- key outcomes and replicated our main findings using
icular act and subjective norms or the strength of an alternative, observational outcome measure,

12
Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 014009

garbage disposal and littering, which confirmed our In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
main conclusions. Development, Bengtsson et al (2018) have reviewed
Third, our sample is restricted to female house- and presented evidence on the role of education in
hold heads, who were members of a social develop- enabling the progress of the Agenda ranging from
ment organization at the time of the survey. The data improving health, poverty reduction, promoting gen-
hence is not representative for the entire country. We der equality to reducing vulnerability and enhancing
nevertheless believe that the sample and the collected adaptive capacity in the context of climate change
data is highly informative as it allows us to test theor- (Nilsson et al 2016, Weitz et al 2019, Sachs et al 2019).
etical predictions in a setting, which has rarely been Our findings provide further evidence that education
considered in previous research. The aim of our study is an important enabler for reaching sustainable devel-
is to reach a high internal validity and to carefully opment on a global scale. Investments in education
explore some of the mechanisms underlying the iden- can make an important contribution in raising aware-
tified effects. In this regard, we see case studies like ness and ultimately in promoting green behavior con-
ours as a useful tool to understand patterns and tributing to reducing the human impacts on the global
mechanisms on the micro level, which can be com- climate system. In this regard, while it is important to
pared to other studies with a similar empirical design. provide learners with the necessary tools and cap-
Whilst this study focuses mainly on formal school- abilities to undertake pro-environmental actions, it is
ing, knowledge, awareness and risk perception in the also key to raise their perceived self-efficacy. Environ-
context of climate change can be acquired via other mental education curricula should thus not only focus
non-formal and informal channels such as through on the transfer of knowledge and information, but also
the media and social diffusion. These channels are highlight the importance of the individual contrib-
more difficult to assess empirically and require a spe- ution in mitigating the harmful consequences of glo-
cific survey design to be measured. While our study bal environmental change.
was focused on direct mechanisms, the effects of edu-
cation on pro-environmental behavior can also oper- Acknowledgments
ate through other channels, which we do not capture
with our design. Factors like low time discount rates We are very grateful to Wolfgang Lutz, Alejandro
(i.e. focusing on benefits in a longer time horizon) Cunat, Karl Schlag, Bernhard Kittel, Jesus Crespo
have been found to be associated with environmental Cuaresma, Maarten Janssen, Ilona Reindl, and Nadia
behavior and energy consumption (Carson and Roth Steiber for their invaluable feedback and support. We
Tran 2009, Long et al 2018) and are also reported to be thank the Kasagana-Ka Development Center Inc. for
more prominent amongst highly educated people their collaboration and assistance with this study. In
(Chao et al 2009, WhitMarsh 2011). Additional factors particular, we are grateful to the CEO of Kasagana-Ka,
such as biospheric values may also mediate the effect Maria Anna de Rosas Ignacio, and the other members
of education if these values influence pro-environ- of the steering committee. We are furthermore greatly
mental actions and are correlated with education indebted to the staff members in the field without
(Steg 2016). It is thus highly likely that education whom this study would not have been possible. We
affects environmental behavior through other media- thank Aylin Bello, Justine Co, Louise Oblena, and
tors beyond the ones captured in our study. Our study Ricardo Guzman for their outstanding research assis-
thus opens up new enquiries to be pursued in future tance. This study was made possible by funding
research. provided by the University of Vienna and the Vienna
Formal schooling functions not only as an instru- University of Economics and Business. Further fund-
ment to signal the level of education attained but has ing was provided by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF):
an intrinsic value in enhancing the capability to Z171-G11.
achieve the outcomes aspired for (Bengtsson et al
2018). Likewise, investments in education may not Data availability
only have individual-level benefits, but may generate
important spill-overs at the community level such as The data that support the findings of this study are
in the case of reductions in infant mortality (Pamuk available from the corresponding author upon reason-
et al 2011) or disaster preparedness (Witvorapong et al able request. The data are not publicly available for
2015, Hoffmann and Muttarak 2017). Interactions legal and/or ethical reasons.
with well-educated individuals may contribute to the
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