This study aims at better understanding how, and to what extent, perceptions of a policy instrument’s distributional effects impact on policy support, focusing on the case of CO₂ taxes on petrol in Sweden. Through a large-scale (N = 5000) randomized survey experiment with a 2 × 3 factorial design, the extent to which perceptions of fairness determine attitudes to a suggested increase of the Swedish CO₂ tax is explored. Furthermore, the study considers whether these effects change with the level of the suggested tax increase, as well as whether negative sentiments can be alleviated by combining it with a compensatory measure in the shape of a simultaneous income tax cut financed by the revenues from the tax increase. The results show that a higher tax increase is both viewed as more unfair and enjoys weaker support. Furthermore, compensatory measures can be a powerful policy design tool to increase perceptions of the policy as fair, but the effect of compensation on policy support is conditioned by the individual’s left–right ideological position. Whereas people self-identifying to the right react favourably to compensatory measures, people self-identifying to the left become less supportive of a tax increase when combined with a simultaneous cut in income taxes. Key policy insights

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 insights

As it has been suggested that involvement of individuals in environmental work is necessary for halting environmental degradation, one focus for contemporary environmental policy and political theory is the need for comprehensive individual lifestyle changes. Ecological Citizenship (EC) has been suggested within the field of political theory as an approach to realize personal responsibility for the environment. However, empirical research on whether EC can serve this purpose is still lacking. Based on a survey sent to 4,000 Swedish households, this paper makes the theory of EC empirically operational and explores whether, and to what extent, people in general hold values and beliefs in line with what is expected of EC, in order to shed light on the feasibility of cultivating ecological citizens in Sweden. The study concludes that a significant proportion of the respondents do demonstrate a value base consistent with EC, i.e., non-territorial altruism and the primacy of social justice. While additional tests and studies are needed, the results support the use of EC as a theoretical model for behavioral change.

This article explores the relationship between two major explanations of the formation of positive attitudes towards environmental policy measures. Ideological orientation and personal values have, in theory, significant overlaps in the sense that they collect general and cross-situational sentiments used to understand and evaluate a wide range of political issues. However, in the empirical literature, although they independently have been shown to have rather significant effects on pro-environmental policy attitudes, they are rarely tested together in order to explore whether they capture the same basic mechanisms. In this article, two data sets from Sweden are used to demonstrate both that ideological orientation and personal values independently affect pro-environmental policy support, as well as that these effects differ across different policy types.

In theory, ecological citizenship (EC) has been suggested as a driver of individual pro-environmental behaviour (PEB), providing a more stable foundation for lifestyle changes than reliance on external policy tools. The relevance of EC for explaining PEB is tested by applying data from a Swedish survey designed to capture various aspects of EC. A significant proportion of Swedes fulfil the values-based requirements of ecological citizenship, as outlined in EC-theory. Furthermore, individuals who think along the lines of EC are more likely than others to behave in an environmentally friendly manner in their day-to-day activities. Certain aspects of EC are more important for PEB than others, which implies the need for further theoretical development of EC theory.

In 2021, governments of 51 countries spent US$697 billion on subsidizing fossil fuels. Removing fossil fuel subsidies is crucial not only for reducing CO₂ emissions and making carbon pricing more effective, but also for making more valuable use of government funds. Currently, however, scientific evidence on the scale and scope of public attitudes towards fossil fuel subsidy-removal policies is lacking, yet it is instrumental for gauging political feasibility. Furthermore, previous studies tend to focus on carbon pricing in the developed world only. Here we present a comparative analysis of attitudes towards both carbon taxation and fossil fuel subsidy removal, focusing on five developing countries across four continents. It is found that (1) removing fossil fuel subsidies is not more undesirable than introducing carbon taxation and (2) the public has more-positive attitudes towards subsidy removal if optimal use of the saved fiscal revenues is specified.