The significance of political culture, economic context and instrument type for climate policy support: a cross-national study

While many countries have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the choice of national climate policy measures demonstrates widespread variation. Although system of government, path-dependency and economic entanglements can explain a certain amount of variation in policy choice, research also points specifically towards the highly politicized nature of climate policy instruments and their sensitivity to public support as explanatory factors for cross-national differences. Previous studies hypothesize that various country-specific contextual factors determine both general preferences for environmental protection and the public’s preferences for different types of policy instruments. One suggestion is that countries’ prevailing political cultures have significant consequences for such public support. Another supposition is that, since countries differ in their economic dependency on climate detrimental industry such as fossil fuel production, this should be a significant factor determining both public attitudes and subsequent political decisions. This paper applies unique, original data from four countries with significant variation in (i) political-cultural contexts (Sweden and Norway vs New Zealand and Australia and (ii) economic dependency (Norway and Australia vs Sweden and New Zealand) to analyze how, and to what extent, these two contextual variables interact with, and moderate, the effect of individual-level factors on support for climate policy measures in the four countries. Furthermore, the paper explores variations in support for different types of CO2 taxes (directed towards individual consumers, industry, and fossil-fuel producers) in the four countries. Key policy insightsAcross contexts, public policy support is lower for taxes directed towards private consumption than for taxes directed towards industry, and the strongest for CO2 taxes on fossil fuel producing industry.Political culture and economic context influence the effect of individual-level factors on policy support.In a context of high economic dependency on the fossil-fuel industry, people are less likely to support the introduction of CO2 taxes.The effect of left-right ideology on policy support is sensitive to political-cultural context. Across contexts, public policy support is lower for taxes directed towards private consumption than for taxes directed towards industry, and the strongest for CO2 taxes on fossil fuel producing industry. Political culture and economic context influence the effect of individual-level factors on policy support. In a context of high economic dependency on the fossil-fuel industry, people are less likely to support the introduction of CO2 taxes. The effect of left-right ideology on policy support is sensitive to political-cultural context.