Opinions of EU citizens about climate policy in their own words
Savin, Ivan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2026
Abstract:	To mitigate climate change, policy measures should not only be effective but also politically viable. Views of citizens are vital in this regard as they underlie voting outcomes and subsequent political decisions. The present study presents results from a public survey conducted in 13 EU countries about public support for climate policy measures. This involves analyzing 1266 open textual responses and identifying thirteen main topics. We compare the prevalence of topics between EU countries and assess how topics relate to average support for climate policy and opinions on economic growth. More prevalent topics relate to sector-specific strategies, such as aimed at waste and transport, which are relatively popular among female respondents. Only about 25% of responses mention concrete policy instruments, such as direct regulation or carbon pricing. This may indicate inadequate awareness of policy details among European citizens and contribute to limited public support for climate policy in general. Surprisingly, people claiming to have a good understanding of climate policy suggest a vague strategy like reducing consumption instead of concrete policy measures. Opponents of climate policy are found especially in Eastern European countries. Our findings point at the need for more information provision to citizens about policy details and effectiveness.
Grants:	European Commission 101056891
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2024-001506-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Climate Policy ; European Union ; Policy Support ; Public Opinion ; Topic Modelling
Published in:	Ecological economics, Vol. 244 (June 2026) , art. 108968, ISSN 0921-8009

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2026.108968

16 p, 13.4 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) > Environmental and Climate Economics (ECE)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles