A Decarbonized Politics For All: The Welfare State and Public Support of Climate Policy

Research problem and specific questionsPublic policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change – such as raising taxes on fossil fuels – tend to impose extra costs on households and have a regressive distributive profile. Carbon taxes are thus often unpopular and difficult for policymakers to implement on a large scale.

The overarching aim of the project is to further knowledge about the role of the welfare state for climate policy attitudes. Are people more willing to accept decarbonization policies if they are compensated by a generous welfare state?

This will be the first time in which attitudes to climate policy, the actual carbon taxes put in place, and social policy are carefully quantified and analyzed together in a coherent empirical and comparative framework. The possibilities for producing new findings that actually push research forward are thus evident.

Data and methodWe will use an innovative triangulation of methods that complement each other, including multilevel analyses of a large number of countries and years using renowned international surveys (ESS and ISSP) and original survey experiments in a few carefully selected countries.

We will also apply new cutting-edge methodologies to existing data for a more precise measurement of the decarbonization policies put in place.

To measure the generosity of the welfare state, we will use data from the renowned Social Policy Indicators Database at Stockholm University.

Plan for project realizationThe project participants have a long track record of analyzing policy attitudes, environmental policy, and the welfare state, and the proposed project is mainly based on several renowned data collections that we already have access to.

The main cost of the project is related to salaries over three years (70% for PI, and 10% each for the other participants).RelevanceIn order to reduce global warming and reach a carbon neutral society in the nearby future, it is important to avoid situations in which public discontent stands in the way of necessary climate reforms.

Exploring ways in which carbon taxes can receive broader public support in Sweden and other countries is thus an important task for research, with great societal relevance.

The project brings issues of climate change and decarbonization policy closer to FORTE’s overall ambition of financing research that may inform social policymaking and contribute to more equal societies.