About SoGreen data

SoGreen produces cross-nationally harmonised survey data on the social aspects of the green transition, collected across four major European social research infrastructures. All data are released through the standard dissemination channels of the respective infrastructure, in compliance with data protection requirements.

What can you do with SoGreen data?

SoGreen is designed to answer questions that no single survey could address alone, by combining a harmonised questionnaire with linked environmental data, and by covering people at every stage of life across Europe. For example:

• Do climate-related attitudes and perceived environmental risks vary with the local weather conditions recorded at the time of the interview?
• How does access to public transport shape peoples’ mobility?
• Who fears the green transition will cost them their job or raise their bills?
• How does climate worry and a sense of personal responsibility differ between children, working-age adults, and older people?
• Does proximity to green space improve health and well-being as people age?

Available now

ESS CRONOS-3 Wave 6 (SoGreen Wave 1)

Fielded: October 2025 | Countries: 11 | Infrastructure: ESS ERIC

The first SoGreen data collection was conducted as part of ESS CRONOS-3 Wave 6, fielding the harmonised SoGreen module to CRONOS panellists across 11 countries. These data are publicly available for academic research through the ESS data archive.

Access the data at the ESS Data Archive (SIKT)

Coming soon

How to access

ESS CRONOS data are freely available for academic research following registration on the ESS data portal. For questions about data access or future SoGreen data releases, contact the SoGreen coordination team via the contact form at sogreen-project.eu/contact.

Research Questions

Theme 1 | Perceived vs. measured environmental exposure

Uses the linkage of survey items to air-quality and geospatial data, SoGreen’s core methodological innovation.

• Do people’s concerns about local air pollution match objectively measured air quality at their location, and does this perception gap vary by income, education, or age?
• Are self-reported air-quality-related health symptoms predicted by measured pollutant exposure, or more by subjective concern?
• Does satisfaction with access to green space correspond to the actual availability of green space (from OpenStreetMap data) near respondents’ homes?

Theme 2 | Transport infrastructure and behaviour

Links stated transport behaviour to geospatial public-transport accessibility.

• How does measured public-transport accessibility shape actual mode of transport and frequency of use?
• Among people who rarely use public transport, how often is the stated reason corroborated by the actual infrastructure around them?
• Does poor transport accessibility translate into lower satisfaction, and is this concentrated in particular regions or social groups?

Theme 3 | The social fairness of the green transition

Social justice/equity framing, using F16–F23.

• Who is most concerned that climate policies will make it harder to pay energy bills, raise transport costs, or threaten their job, and how do these concerns cluster by income, employment, and region?
• Does confidence that climate policies will deliver fair outcomes for everyone erode trust in government to address climate change?
• How does the perceived trade-off between environment and jobs differ across countries and across generations?

Theme 4 | Intergenerational and life-course differences

Enabled by deploying one harmonised module across SHARE (older adults), ESS (general adult population), GGP, and GUIDE (children/young people).

• How does climate worry and felt personal responsibility to act differ across the life course, from children to working-age adults to older people?
• Are older adults’ pro-environmental behaviours (energy-efficient purchases, public transport use) driven more by cost-saving or environmental motivation than younger groups’?
• Does proximity to green space relate to physical activity and well-being differently for older adults than for the wider population?

Theme 5 | Cross-country comparison

Enabled by simultaneous harmonised fielding across 11+ ESS and 6 SHARE countries.

• How does familiarity with national climate policies vary across Europe, and does greater familiarity go with more or less support?
• In which countries is the perceived burden of climate policy highest, and does this track actual policy stringency?