The Role of Fairness for Accepting Stricter Carbon Taxes in SwedenShow others and affiliations
2024 (English)In: Climate, E-ISSN 2225-1154, Vol. 12, no 11, article id 170
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Carbon taxes are considered to be an efficient method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; however, such taxes are generally unpopular, partly because they are seen as unfair. To explore if public acceptance of a stricter carbon tax in Sweden can be enhanced, this study investigates the effectiveness of three different policy designs, addressing collective and personal distributional consequences and promoting procedural aspects (democratic influence). A large-scale (n = 5200) survey is applied, combining a traditional multi-category answer format with a binary choice format. The results show that support for higher carbon taxation can be enhanced if tax revenues are redistributed to affected groups. Policies with collective justice framings can change the attitudes of individuals who express antagonistic attitudes to increased carbon taxation and influence groups comparably more affected by carbon taxes, such as rural residents, low-income groups, and people who are driving long distances. Policy designs addressing collective distributional consequences are, however, less effective on individuals expressing right-leaning ideological views and low environmental concern. Policies addressing personal distributional outcomes, or perceptions of procedural injustice, had no significant effect on policy acceptance.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2024. Vol. 12, no 11, article id 170
Keywords [en]
climate policy, climate governance, carbon tax, climate justice, fair transition, shifting policy aversion
National Category
Applied Psychology
Research subject
Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-110563DOI: 10.3390/cli12110170ISI: 001364168300001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85210599695OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-110563DiVA, id: diva2:1908473
Funder
Swedish Research Council Formas, 2021-00416
Note
Validerad;2024;Nivå 1;2024-11-26 (sofila);
Funder: Mistra (DIA 2019/28);
Full text license: CC BY
2024-10-272024-10-272025-10-21Bibliographically approved