Who’s afraid of more ambitious climate policy? How distributional implications shape policy support and compensatory preferences

2023/08/30 by Lena Maria Schaffer · 1 voice · 4 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Climate Change Policy and Economics #Environmental Education and Sustainability

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/09644016.2023.2247818

openalex publication_date 2023/08/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Nation states need to strengthen domestic climate policies to address global climate change. As more ambitious climate policy shapes the material interests of different societal groups, distributional conflict about who wins and loses will likely intensify over the coming years. I use the recent complete revision of the Swiss CO2 law as an example of a change towards more ambitious climate policy and experimentally test whether distributional implications resulting from this policy change affect both people’s policy support and redistributive preferences. I establish that learning about negative impacts on some societal groups significantly decreases support, while information about groups profiting also increases support. Moreover, being informed about the negative consequences of ambitious climate policy makes people more likely to support redistributive schemes, even if they are not personally affected. These results show the centrality of distributional implications for the political feasibility of progressive climate policy.

Citations

• The Politicization of Climate Change and Polarization in the American Public's Views of Global Warming, 2001–2010
• The Paris Agreement and the new logic of international climate politics
• The Political Divide on Climate Change: Partisan Polarization Widens in the U.S.
• The justice and equity implications of the clean energy transition
• The Political Consequences of Green Policies: Evidence from Italy

Cited by

• Big dilemmas, little time: intergenerational climate justice and public support for deep decarbonisation
• Equal per capita carbon dividends and the waste objection
• Green but cautious. How preferences on European integration shape public opinion on the European Green Deal
• When place shapes attitudes: explaining rural discontent with climate policies

Discussions

• Who’s afraid of more ambitious climate policy? How distributional implications shape policy support and compensatory preferences by Lena Maria Schaffer doi.org/10.1080/0964... [bsky, 2 points, 1 comments]

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