Climate policy as a social question: Can social policies reduce opposition to carbon taxes?

Climate change is a global crisis that poses an immense challenge for both policy-makers and citizens in all countries.

The determination to adopt an ambitious climate mitigation strategy depends to a large extent on the support of citizens.

However, the outlook for broad popular acceptance of decarbonization is uncertain in the absence of reasonably equal social and economic conditions.

An emerging research literature has begun to explore the interlinkages between social conditions and public acceptance of decarbonization, but the majority of studies have concentrated on individual policy instruments.

This project uses comparative and experimental data to investigate how socioeconomic conditions and welfare regimes shape citizens’ willingness to support different climate policy packages that combine both decarbonization and welfare policies.

First, we explore how public acceptance of decarbonization policies varies across countries with dissimilar welfare state regimes and individuals in different living conditions.

We then examine how support for different climate and welfare policy packages varies between different groups of citizens through an experimental case study of Sweden.

Third, we develop concrete decision-trees that visualize the support for various policy packages among different groups of citizens.

The results of the project will provide decision-makers with the necessary knowledge to achieve a low-emission welfare state based on strong democratic support.