scholarly journals What are the Determinants of Public Support for Climate Policies? A Review of the Empirical Literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-228
Author(s):  
Silke Bumann
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Change Beliefs ◽  
Demographic Background ◽  
To Receive

Abstract Climate change is one of the most challenging problems of our times. To be effective, climate policies need to receive citizens’ approval. The objective of this article is to examine both the extent of individuals’ support for different climate policies and key determinants of policy support. To this end, an overview of the related empirical literature is provided. The article shows that the empirical literature on public climate policy support is very diverse in terms of concepts, measures of policy support and empirical approaches. Moreover, the bulk of the existing empirical literature has a strong U.S. focus. The article concludes that public support for climate policies is rather a matter of climate change beliefs and party identification, and not primarily a question of socio-demographic background. The article also offers suggestions for future research as well as policy recommendations.

scholarly journals Current surveys may underestimate climate change skepticism evidence from list experiments in Germany and the USA

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0251034
Author(s):  
Liam F. Beiser-McGrath ◽  
Thomas Bernauer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation Policy ◽  
The Usa

Strong public support is a prerequisite for ambitious and thus costly climate change mitigation policy, and strong public concern over climate change is a prerequisite for policy support. Why, then, do most public opinion surveys indicate rather high levels of concern and rather strong policy support, while de facto mitigation efforts in most countries remain far from ambitious? One possibility is that survey measures for public concern fail to fully reveal the true attitudes of citizens due to social desirability bias. In this paper, we implemented list-experiments in representative surveys in Germany and the United States (N = 3620 and 3640 respectively) to assess such potential bias. We find evidence that people systematically misreport, that is, understate their disbelief in human caused climate change. This misreporting is particularly strong amongst politically relevant subgroups. Individuals in the top 20% of the income distribution in the United States and supporters of conservative parties in Germany exhibit significantly higher climate change skepticism according to the list experiment, relative to conventional measures. While this does not definitively mean that climate skepticism is a widespread phenomenon in these countries, it does suggest that future research should reconsider how climate change concern is measured, and what subgroups of the population are more susceptible to misreporting and why. Our findings imply that public support for ambitious climate policy may be weaker than existing survey research suggests.

Partisan Dealignment and the Dynamics of Independence in the American Electorate, 1953–88

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold D. Clarke ◽  
Motoshi Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Partisan Change ◽  
Short Term Change

Since the 1950s, the dominant pattern of partisan change in the American electorate has involved movements between party identification and independence rather than direct or indirect shifts between parties. This article employs switching regression analyses to investigate the long-term evolution and short-term dynamics of independence between 1953 and 1988. The analyses reveal that a new ‘independence regime’ developed rapidly in the mid-1960s, with the ‘tipping point’ in the transition occurring in the second quarter of 1967. Under the new–but not the old–regime, short-term changes in the size of the independent cohort have reflected economic conditions as well as political events. These findings argue that future research on the dynamics of public support for political parties in the United States and elsewhere will profit by developing dynamic models which assess processes of long- and short-term change in tandem.

scholarly journals The Effect of Trust on the Various Dimensions of Climate Change Attitudes

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 10200
Author(s):  
Ákos Bodor ◽  
Viktor Varjú ◽  
Zoltán Grünhut
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
National Level ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Change Beliefs ◽  
The Individual

The struggle against climate change will not be successful without a sufficient level of collective action. However, a necessary precondition for this is the existence of trust between people. The literature on trust and attitudes to climate change is displaying a growing tendency, and today the results of numerous empirical studies are available. Although, for the time being, on the basis of these studies, we only have a fragmented picture from which it appears that trust is having a significant effect on attitudes to climate change at both the micro and macro levels. The current paper tries to progress on this path and reveal the role of trust in various dimensions of the attitude to climate change using the data of the European Social Survey originating from 22 countries. The results show that while climate change beliefs and climate concern display no relationship with trust, neither on the individual or national level, trust does have a clear effect on the feeling of individual responsibility in connection with climate change and on support for the various policy measures. In addition, it is also investigated whether the effect of trust can be shown to exist in the relationships between climate concern and the feeling of individual responsibility, and climate concern and policy support. The results show that in both cases the relationship is stronger in those countries characterized by a higher level of social trust.

The convergence of carbon dioxide emissions: a survey of the empirical literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1757-1785 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Payne
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Change Models

PurposeThis survey of the literature on the convergence of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions informs researchers on areas for future research by summarizing the countries examined, the types of convergence tested and the methodological approaches undertaken.Design/methodology/approachThis survey examines peer-reviewed empirical studies of CO2 emissions convergence with respect to country coverage and alternative approaches to test for various types of convergence.FindingsFor large multicountry studies, the support for convergence is quite limited. However, studies focused exclusively on a subset of countries defined by income classification, geographic region or institutional structure reveal the finding of convergence is more prevalent. Studies at the subnational level have primarily been in the cases of the US and China with the exception of two studies across industry sectors in Portugal and Sweden.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses exclusively on peer-reviewed published studies.Practical implicationsThis study is relevant to the design of mitigation strategies to reduce CO2 emissions and the assumption of convergence underlying climate change models.Social implicationsAs a major component of greenhouse gas emissions, CO2 emissions is of global importance in its impact on the environment and climate change.Originality/valueThis study provides the most recent and comprehensive survey of the empirical literature on the convergence of CO2 emissions.

scholarly journals The Impact of a National Identity Loss Message, and the Moderating Effect of Political Orientation, on Climate Change Policy Support

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Klas ◽  
Edward John Roy Clarke ◽  
Kelly Fielding ◽  
Matthew Mackay ◽  
Susanne Lohmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Policy ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Control Message ◽  
The Impact

As climate change continues to be politically divisive, developing communications that align with right-leaning beliefs may increase bipartisan support for climate policy. In two experimental studies (Study 1, Australia, N = 521; Study 2, United States, N = 807), we tested whether a national identity loss message would elicit greater support for mitigation and adaptation policies when compared to an economic loss or control message, and whether this was conditional on political orientation. In both studies, conservatives were less likely to support both climate policies, but Australian (Study 1) and American (Study 2) identification predicted adaptation support. In the U.S. sample, there was a direct effect of the national identity loss message (compared to economic loss) on both climate policies, and an interaction of political orientation and message type. Conservatives who received an economic loss message were less likely to support climate mitigation policy when compared to conservatives who had received a national identity loss message. However, we found no significant interaction effects when comparing a national identity loss message to the control message. This suggests that if one has to discuss climate change, threatening national identity may be more useful than economic loss information in increasing mitigation policy support.

scholarly journals Understanding the effects of partisan identity on climate change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Doell ◽  
Philip Pärnamets ◽  
Elizabeth Ann Harris ◽  
Leor M Hackel ◽  
Jay Joseph Van Bavel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Potential Solution ◽  
Collective Cognition ◽  
Change Beliefs ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Policies

Partisan and ideological identities are a consistent barrier to the adoption of climate change mitigation policies, especially in Anglophone countries where fossil fuel reliance is the highest. We review how understanding collective cognition may help overcome such barriers by changing norms, promoting cooperation, downplaying partisan identities, or leveraging other identities to promote pro-climate change beliefs and behaviors. We also highlight several gaps in the literature and lay out a brief roadmap for future research. In sum, this review highlights the important role that social identity plays, both in terms of a barrier and a potential solution, in aid of promoting climate change mitigation.

scholarly journals What shapes public support for climate change mitigation policies? The role of descriptive social norms and elite cues

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
ADRIAN RINSCHEID ◽  
SILVIA PIANTA ◽  
ELKE U. WEBER
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Experimental Manipulation ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Descriptive Norms ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
The Impact

Abstract What are the roles of bottom-up and top-down signals in the formation of climate change policy preferences? Using a large sample of American residents (n = 1520) and combining an experimental manipulation of descriptive social norms with two choice experiments, we investigate the effects of descriptive norms and policy endorsements by key political actors on climate policy support. We study these questions in two areas considered to be central in a number of decarbonization pathways: the phase-out of fossil fuel-powered cars and the deployment of carbon capture and storage. Our study provides two important results. First, social norm interventions may be no silver bullet for increasing citizens’ support for ambitious climate policies. In fact, we not only find that climate policy support is unaffected by norm messages communicating an increased diffusion of pro-environmental behaviors, but also that norm messages communicating the prevalence of non-sustainable behaviors decrease policy support. Second, in the presence of policy endorsements by political parties, citizens’ trust in these parties influences their support for climate policies. This study contributes to research in behavioral climate policy by examining the impact of descriptive norms and elite cues on climate policy support.

scholarly journals Beliefs and Social Norms as Precursors of Environmental Support: The Joint Influence of Collectivism and Socioeconomic Status

2021 ◽  
pp. 014616722110072
Author(s):  
David K. Sherman ◽  
John A. Updegraff ◽  
Michelle S. Handy ◽  
Kimin Eom ◽  
Heejung S. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Descriptive Norms ◽  
Environmental Support ◽  
Joint Influence ◽  
Change Beliefs

The present research investigates how the cultural value of collectivism interacts with socioeconomic status (SES) to influence the basis of action. Using a U.S. national sample ( N = 2,538), the research examines how these sociocultural factors jointly moderate the strength of two precursors of environmental support: beliefs about climate change and perceived descriptive norms. SES and collectivism interacted with climate change beliefs such that beliefs predicted environmental support (i.e., proenvironmental behaviors and policy support) more strongly for those who were high in SES and low in collectivism than for all other groups. This interaction was explained, in part, by sense of control. For descriptive norms, SES and collectivism did not interact but rather norms predicted action most strongly for those high in collectivism and high in SES. These findings demonstrate the theoretical and applied importance of examining multiple sociocultural characteristics together to understand the factors that drive action.

scholarly journals Visual art inspired by climate change—An analysis of audience reactions to 37 artworks presented during 21st UN climate summit in Paris

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0247331
Author(s):  
Christian Andreas Klöckner ◽  
Laura K. Sommer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Environmental Attitudes ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Emotional Activation ◽  
First Impression

This paper suggests and tests a psychological model of environmental art perception and subsequent support for climate change policies. The model is based on findings from art perception and environmental psychology, which indicate that the response of the viewer to the artwork is (1) first an emotional reaction, which can be positive and/or negative. The emotional activation leads to (2) evaluation of the perceived quality of the artwork. This forms the first impression of the artwork the viewer gets, which then triggers (3) reflections on the artwork that are finally related to support for climate policies. The model test uses data collected at the ArtCOP21 that accompanied the 21st UN climate summit in Paris. At 37 connected events, the research team collected 883 audience responses with a brief quantitative paper-pencil questionnaire. The data were analyzed using a multilevel-structural equation modeling approach. Results support the suggested theoretical model. Moreover, the effect of reflections on the artwork on support for climate policies is moderated by environmental attitudes, meaning the lower the environmental attitudes, the higher the effect of reflections on policy support. Finally, artwork features like color, size, displaying something personal, etc., could be identified that had a significant relation to differences on the artwork level regarding the first impression of the artwork and the reflections elicited. The study shows that being confronted with climate change-related artwork relates at least in the short run to increased climate policy support, which is mostly channeled through an emotional activation with following cognitive processing. Features of the artwork relate to how strongly and which emotions are activated.

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