Exploring factors explaining the scarcity of climate protests in East Asia

Climate protests have been recognized as a catalyst for large-scale social transformation. Previous studies focused on protests in Western countries where protests were abundant. Few studies paid attention to regions where protests were scarce. It has thus remained unknown why East Asia has few climate protests. To explore potential reasons, we conducted a comparative study. We examined factors correlated with climate protest significance in different countries. Protest significance was correlated with the following four factors: (1) the density of non-governmental organizations (_r_ = 0.498), (2) working hours (_r_ = -0.558), (3) trust in strangers (_r_ = 0.648), and (4) the priority of the environment over the economy (_r_ = 0.621). The former three factors were, in turn, associated with weak individualism in East Asia. Our study thus illustrates cultural dimensions to understand protest scarcity in East Asia. This study also highlights climate actions that are effective in East Asian cultural contexts.