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Policy proposals\u2013as well as recent court rulings\u2013call on firms to explain what those targets mean. We test whether such explanations enhance consumer understanding in two online studies with nationally representative U.S. samples (N=300; N=1,500) and in a large-scale webcam-based eye-tracking experiment (N=500). Baseline knowledge is low: 95 percent of respondents fail to name even one defining feature of net-zero or carbon neutral targets, yet they are willing to pay a price premium for gift cards from companies with such targets. Concise disclosures raise objective understanding when a single product is shown, but none of the formats alter willingness to pay. In a more realistic setting with multiple products and competing cues, disclosures attract substantial gaze time, yet no longer improve comprehension; the visually salient color-coded format is associated with more misconceptions. These findings contribute to the growing evidence that individual-level measures, such as information provision, may be a less effective response to systemic problems like global warming than previously thought.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-026-52744-9","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,11]],"date-time":"2026-09-11T09:18:04Z","timestamp":1789118284000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Consumer understanding of climate targets is low and hard to improve: evidence from three online studies"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Vittoria","family":"Battocletti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alfredo","family":"Desiato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Romano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chiara","family":"Sotis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tobias H.","family":"Tr\u00f6ger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"52744_CR1","unstructured":"Carter, E. 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