Conference Agenda

This study investigates the link between one of the core elements of the populist ideology, namely anti-elitism, and citizens’ attitudes towards climate policies. Eurobarometer surveys indicate a widespread consensus among Europeans recognizing climate change as a pressing issue, necessitating increased action from national and European Union governments. A majority of the population concurs that financial support should shift towards fostering clean energy transitions, even at the expense of reducing subsidies for fossil fuels. In contrast, despite this consensus, the increasingly popular right-wing populist parties in Europe have been promoting contrasting positions on climate policy. These range from endorsing grassroots movements like farmers' protests to adopting positions of skepticism or even complete denial regarding climate change and its associated policy responses.

The ideological framing of populist parties often casts climate policies as a battleground between the common people and a so-called "evil and self-serving" cosmopolitan elite, fostering resistance against the so called "green ideology" that is associated with mainstream and left-leaning parties. Such framing often characterizes climate policies as adversarial to the interests of the ordinary citizen, thereby generating resistance against these policies.

Populist parties have at their core the antagonism between ‘the people’ and the cosmopolitan elite. Ideologically, it's important to examine how right-wing populist parties frame climate change policies as an issue of the common people versus the “evil and self-serving” cosmopolitan elite. This study thus analyses the link between populist anti-elitist stance and the populist electorate’s attitudes on climate and environmental politics.

Employing empirical data from the European Social Survey (ESS), this study analyses the extent to which supporting populist parties and their anti-elite stances sways public resistance to climate change initiatives. This paper aims to uncover the ways in which anti-elitist sentiment is steering the climate conversation in Europe.

The study's results are anticipated to contribute substantially to our comprehension of the complex dynamics at play between political ideology and environmental policy acceptance. By offering a nuanced understanding of these interactions, the findings are expected to inform policymakers, potentially guiding the development of more effective communication strategies and interventions.

Climate change consequences are undoubtedly challenging planet Earth and its inhabitants. In response, different policies and political stands have emerged, ranging from denial to coping and mitigating the climate change consequences. The European Green Deal for example is a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making Europe climate neutral in 2050 (EU Commission, 2020). While such holistic commitments on continent level are necessary to mitigate climate change consequences, country level commitments could depend on the politicians and the citizens.

Previous studies have discussed the differences of right and left parties in their approach towards the climate change challenge. Perceiving higher risks in climate change as a collective risk is attributed to liberalism whereas being sensitive to behaviors with higher personal risks such as in alcoholism is attributed to conservatism (Jung & Mittal, 2020). Individuals’ political ideology, including their visions and goals for social and political systems and their ideologies for how a society should function, is shown to influence their consumption beliefs and behaviors, among many other everyday behaviors and beliefs (Duhachek et al., 2014).

Against this background, the aim of this study is to investigate the link between individual’s political ideology, climate change beliefs/concerns and sustainable consumption. This is an important relationship to investigate because it can determine the segments in society which can be targeted for sustainable consumption and alternatively for educating about climate change and consumption. It can further emphasize the responsibility of political parties for influencing the climate change beliefs in their supporters.

This study utilizes round 8 of European Social Survey data to investigate the link between political ideology, climate change beliefs, consumer intentions to buy energy efficient appliances, and to ban non-efficient energy appliances. The moderating effect of political interest on these relationships has also been investigated. Results reveal that climate change belief/concern fully mediates the relationship between political ideology and buying energy efficient appliances, whereas the mediation is partial when banning the inefficient appliances is the dependent variable. Supporters of right-orientation who are interested in politics score low on climate change beliefs and concerns. We also find significant effects for socio-demographic variables (age, gender, education) on consumers' sustainable consumption intentions. The findings of this study can be used by companies to better target their sustainable products and services.

References

Adam Duhachek, DaHee Han, and Zakary L. Tormala (2014),"Stability Vs. Change: the Effect of Political Ideology on Product Preference", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 42, eds. June Cotte and Stacy Wood, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 59-64.

Jung, J., & Mittal, V. (2020). Political Identity and the Consumer Journey: A Research Review. Journal of Retailing, 96(1), 55–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2019.09.003

European commission (2020) The European Green Deal - European Commission (europa.eu)

Social and justice implications of climate policies and options for social-ecological policies are increasingly discussed in academic and policy debates. Fuel taxes are a prominent example as they are seen as an important instrument in the fight against climate change, including in the European Union Green Deal, while they tend to disproportionally burden disadvantaged households. Public opposition against fuel taxes in Europe is high and previous literature has examined a range of factors for opposition. However, findings remain inconclusive regarding the importance of social disadvantage for explaining opposition compared to factors such as political trust and climate change attitudes. In this paper, we examine the role of social disadvantage for explaining opposition to fuel taxes, where social disadvantage is defined as a combination of low income, fuel poverty risk, low education, low occupational status and job insecurity. The paper utilizes data from the 2016 European Social Survey and employs logistic regression and decomposition analysis. We find that social disadvantage remains a significant explanatory factor for fuel tax opposition alongside political trust and climate change concern, especially in Southern and Eastern Europe where opposition is particularly high. We discuss implications for social-ecological policy strategies that aim to increase public acceptability of fuel taxes in Europe.

Political initiatives and extreme weather events have been found to shape attitudes towards Climate Change (CC). Yet, their effect can be dampened by ideological and cognitive barriers. We study two global, bipartisan, political initiatives, 2021’s COP26 in Glasgow and 2016’s COP22 in Marrakech, boosting CC salience but having limited short-term repercussions. We merge responses to Waves 8 and 10 of the European Social Survey, whose roll-out overlapped with the two Conferences, with daily, gridded temperature data, and find that respondents exposed to upwards temperature anomalies before the interview are more concerned about CC. Even accounting for such local salience shocks, respondents interviewed throughout Glasgow’s COP26 - but not COP22 - and in the weeks following it, were more likely to express preoccupation about CC. The effect appears driven by respondents who are right-wing and report a lower interest in politics, with the former also experiencing a reduction in skepticism towards anthropogenic CC.