Climate Change (Policy) Skepticism: Policy Performance Risk and Support for Fossil Fuel Taxation among Europeans

Abstract

Concern about climate change does not translate unconditionally into support for policy action, and some citizens are skeptical that (costly) public policies will address climate change effectively. I argue that risks to policy performance at the country level attenuate the link between climate change concern and support for policy action. Using a large sample of public opinion data from residents in 23 (mostly) European countries and both country and respondent-level estimates of policy performance risk, I demonstrate that the link between climate change concern and support for fossil fuel taxation is weaker for citizens in countries where policy performance is threatened. This result holds regardless of whether risk is operationalized as governance or economic risk. I discuss the need to overcome climate change policy skepticism in contexts with stronger policy performance risk profiles.