A general explanation for environmental policy support: An example using carbon taxation approval in Germany

Abstract

In democratic societies, public support is crucial for the success of climate change mitigation policies. In this article, we present a parsimonious explanation—grounded in the Campbell paradigm—for explicit approval of environmental policies based on two forces: (a) an individual's commitment to environmental protection (i.e., people's environmental attitudes) and (b) the figurative costs entailed by a specific policy. We tested this model with carbon tax variants and data from German samples from four different sociocultural conditions (Ntotal = 8,166). The results showed that only a minority (36%) were sufficiently committed to environmental protection to approve of a carbon tax regardless of its specific details. Even the most favorable tax level and use of revenue achieved an approval rate of only 48%. Regional differences and interactions among the carbon taxation specifications turned out to be negligible. Overall, our results corroborate the generalizability of the proposed environmental policy support model.