Too far or not far enough? These are Europe’s most popular and least popular climate policies

advertisement

Climate change is expected to be one of the dominant issues in European election campaigns this summer.

But when voters go to the ballot box this June, fatigue will drive them to politicians who roll back climate policy, scale back climate change ambitions, or ignore environmental action altogether. Some people think that they are deaf.

A new report by researchers from the University of Oxford, Humboldt University of Berlin and the Hertie School of Berlin attempts to find out whether this is really true.

Researchers surveyed 15,000 people in Germany, France and Poland about their feelings about current climate policy. voters They were asked whether they thought the measures were going too far or not enough. They were also asked about about 40 specific policies to find out which policies were most and least popular.

The report’s authors say their results refute the theory of a “widespread green backlash” ahead of this year’s European Parliament elections.

Concrete actions and concerns about climate change

The debate over environmental policy in recent months has led to speculation that people across Europe are tired of environmental policy. But the researchers found that the same was not true in the three countries studied, and there was no widespread backlash against climate policies.

The majority still wants more ambitious climate policies and will support concrete steps to reduce emissions. When asked whether existing climate change policies are already going too far or not going far enough, a majority of respondents (57% in France and 53% in India) said this. Germany In Poland, 51% supported further action.

Majority support for more ambitious climate policies reflected people’s concerns about the impact of climate change on their lives. Around 60% of people in Poland and Germany said they were already adversely affected by climate change or expected to be adversely affected within the next five to 10 years.

recent influence drought and drinking water shortages In France, the figure is 80%.

In all three countries, there are sizable minorities that oppose more ambitious climate action. In Germany and Poland it’s around 30 percent, and in France it’s slightly less at 23 percent.

However, the researchers say this group is “relatively stable over time.” Despite talk of growing backlash against climate policies ahead of the election, the number of people opposed appears to be unchanged from similar surveys in 2021 and 2022.

And there is little evidence that this opposition is based on serious concerns such as jobs, they added.

Which climate policies are the most popular and which are the least popular?

While the majority of people still support ambitious action in the abstract, opinions differ when it comes to concrete climate change policies.

In all three countries, banning cars with internal combustion engines ranks last among voters. Restrictions on gas and oil heating were particularly disliked in Germany and Poland.

Echoing previous surveys, voters were also skeptical of carbon pricing, with the idea of ​​putting a price tag on emissions particularly unpopular in the housing and transportation sectors.

The most popular policy was investment in green infrastructure. power grid Or public transportation. Voters also generally support strategies such as subsidies to support the decarbonization of energy-intensive industries and the production of clean energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels.

The study also found support for: ban on private jets and – with the exception of Poland – restrictions on short-haul flights.

Overall, policies and regulations that do not directly impact people’s daily lives tended to be more popular. These measures will put pressure on public authorities and large corporations, rather than consumers, to reduce emissions.

advertisement

Will rolling back environmental policy win over voters?

Although rollbacks may be unpopular in the current story climate policy While it sounds like a cakewalk, the report’s authors argue that the reality is more complicated than that.

“It would be a mistake to take the standard armchair diagnosis of environmental backlash at face value,” they write, as most voters still support more ambitious climate change policies.

“European election campaigns in which parties compete over who can reduce their climate ambitions the most will only misjudge voters’ positions on this issue.”

Instead, focus on the more powerful ones, the authors say. green investment And industrial policy will also be popular. When it comes to unpopular policies that need to be implemented to reduce emissions, “compensation is key.”

Voters across national and party lines will be less likely to oppose climate action if the government supports those hardest hit by climate action.

advertisement

“Instead of wasting the coming months competing with each other on how to respond to imagined climate fatigue, parties should compete over concrete recipes for greening their economies,” it concluded. ing.